Cooking & the Language of Love
by Ghost-girl-writes
Summary: Matthew a master chef, who studied at the best culinary school in the world, now returns home to help his sick mother and becomes a teacher at a Catholic high school, where he meets Francis, the French Language teacher. What'll happen when the two start having feelings for each other and why does Mattie hate Catholic school? Will their love be the prefect dish, or become rotten?
1. Chapter 1

Cooking & the Language of Love

~Chapter One~

Simple Steps

By: Ghost-girl-writes

"So, you really leaving?" The voice behind him asked. The young blonde turned around and stood up, brushing his hands on his jeans that were a bit dirty. For the last hour now he had been packing his things into cardboard boxes and helping the movers load his things into the giant truck that awaited outside. Running a hand through those tousled locks of hair he nodded his head.

"Yeah, I am, but hey...don't worry about it. It's not like we'll never talk or anything ever again. I just have to be there for my mother." He explained and the other male sighing. Sad, red eyes looked into purple ones that were hiding behind a pair of black, thin framed glasses. The young German male placed both of his hands on his hips as he stared at the slightly shorter male.

"Well, it's going to suck not having you around when I throw my awesome parties. You and that crazy Scotsman are the only two who can rival me in a game of battle-shots." Gilbert said with a small smile, remembering the look on everyone's faces as the thin, quiet Canadian went toe to toe with him in downing the shots. The quiet Canadian standing next to him laughed as well.

He walked over to the last cardboard box and placed it on his old bed. "Just think, now that I'm not here, you and Roderich don't have to sneak around late at night, trying to not wake me up while you guys have some fun." He told him with a sly smirk.

Gilbert blushed ever so slightly and rubbed the back on his neck. "Heh, sorry about that, guess you know how Roddy is." He said to him.

The two old roommates laughed together and Gilbert was able to convince Matthew to have one last beer with him before he left for his flight. They said their goodbyes and hugged each other on the sidewalk near their old shared apartment. Gilbert tried to tell Matthew that he wasn't crying, when he heard him sniffling. Matthew told Gilbert that he'd call him when he'd settled down and to not worry about him. Though, Gilbert complained about being too lonely in the apartment, he told him that he'd get over it and just bug him with calling him constantly. With that, Matthew got into his car, a standard black, four door car and followed behind the moving truck.

He was really going to miss Gilbert and living together with him. The place had been a peaceful place for them to unwind after a long day of work, or a place to throw awesome parties. Matthew had loved the thought of living together with someone, though of all people he would have never thought for two long years he'd room with Gilbert.

The two of them had first met each other through some friends and hit it off amazingly well, despite the two of them being so different. Though, they made it clear that they weren't interested in each other in a romantic way, it was simply a 'bro-kinda-love-thing', as Gilbert would put it whenever the question was brought up. Things worked out great for them, Matthew helped Gilbert cook and made the meals, while Gilbert helped Matthew with learning German.

* * *

It took him about an hour to get to the airport and find where he was suppose to park his car to be sent over with him as well. Once he was finally in the airport lobby he got his ticket and waited by his gate until his plane was ready for take off. Matthew pulled open his carry-on bag and got his laptop out. There weren't too many people at the gate and hoped for a peaceful flight as he turned on his laptop to check some emails. He scrolled down the list of already read emails and clicked on one of them. A letter from Washington State hospital had contacted him. At first he was a bit confused as to why Washington State hospital would be contacted, but realized it only a few words in. His mother had become deathly ill and wasn't given a lot of time. So, Matthew had made the decision to move back home with his mother for her final days. He thought it would be best and to pick up a job over there as well, and eventually settle down in the area. As he read the letter over again, he started to remember his younger days when he lived in that old Victorian styled house with his older brother Alfred. He remembered their wonderful times together, even in those times when they fought over things and their mother had to break them up and put them in a time out. Matthew even remembered the tiny door frame in the kitchen where his mother would mark how tall they've grown. It made the blonde male smile to himself while looking at the screen. He was so lost in the world of the past, he barely noticed the announcement that his plane was boarding.

Standing up, he placed his laptop back in his bag and got in line. He showed the woman at the desk his ticket before wishing him to have a good flight. Once on and in his seat he relaxed until they were safely up in the air. A few minutes later he was back on his laptop scrolling through some messages. To keep himself busy, Matthew slipped on some headphones and played some calming music for himself. It was calming and it made him smile in his seat. It would take a few hours to get him from Germany to the west coast of the United States, so young Matthew happily drifted to sleep in his seat.

Hours later the pilot came on the overhead speakers to turn off all electronics and that they would be landing shortly. Matthew stretched his arms over his head and yawned before turning his laptop off and placing it back in his bag. Once back on the ground he waited to fetch his car and was informed that his things would be coming in an hour and told the man in charge his address and thanked him. Back in his car, he started it up and pulled out of the airport and onto the highway. Looking at the clock in the car, he saw that it was getting pretty late in the evening and sighed. It would take him about an hour to get to his mother's house from here, but kept on driving.

Halfway to the house, his phone started buzzing in his pocket and glanced down to see it was Alfred, of all people calling him. Matthew pressed down on the answer option and brought the device up to his ear.

"Hey, Alfie, long time no see." Matthew said as he took a turn down one of the side streets. "Hey Mattie, it's good to hear your voice again. You still coming in today?" His brother asked.

"Yeah, I'm heading over to mom's place right now...how you holding up?" Matthew asked as he left the busy town and headed down the back roads. He heard Alfred sigh over the phone before speaking. "Doin' as best i can in the situation I guess." He said.

Matthew hummed softly in response. Alfred had always stayed pretty close to home, even when he moved to go to college. His mother and him had always thought that Alfred would end up as a lawyer, always loving the way cases were argued over and people having justice served. It surprised the both of them when he changed his mind and became a football coach instead at a nearby high school. Alfred said that he loved it and loved seeing the kids bond over the sport and had a fun time making up game plays and such. Sometimes, Matthew wished that he had done the same. Simply stayed close to home and got a well paying job, settle down and be done with it, but then again, his passion had brought him to places he'd never thought he would ever visit in his life.

Ever since he could walk and talk his mother had told him of how he loved being in the kitchen, or loved watching her cook dinner for them. Then, once he was old enough, he had claimed the kitchen as his domain. Trying out new recipes every week, cooking and baking all different kinds of sweets and dishes, which Alfred always gladly help eat. His mother, being the wonderful woman that she is, signed Matthew up for some cooking classes in town. He absolutely loved it, and wanted to go everyday if he could. Eventually, after a few classes, the instructor noticed Matthew's passion for cooking and how amazing he was at it. Impressed by his talent, and at such a young age, his teacher and mother both agreed to put his name into the running at a local food festival that was held every year. Of course, Matthew was nervous, being around all these different kinds of people and so many different foods and sweets, he couldn't help but a little discouraged.

Matthew felt his nerves running rampage through his body when the judges came by and decided to taste what he had cooked up. He watched with his mother's hand resting on his shoulder as the judges discussed something quietly with each other before writing something down on their clipboards and walking away. When the judging was done and the winner ready to be announced, Matthew was visibly shaking and felt like he might faint from anxiety. Third and second placed were called up onto the tiny stage and given little trophies as rewards. One of the judges then turned towards the crowd and called out Matthew's name for first prize. His mother and teacher were so happy for him and both cheered for him as he got up on stage and received a cash prize of $500 dollars. Impressed and amazed by his talent his teacher signed him up for more advanced cooking festivals and competitions.

The blonde's passion for cooking still lasted even throughout highschool and was always thinking of way to improve dishes and to cook and bake amazing dishes for people. In fact, his passion was so recognized, he was invited to attend a culinary college in France with a full scholarship. Matthew was of course overwhelmed by the that letter he had gotten in the mail, and actually did faint. His mother and Alfred were so proud of him and he couldn't wait to go and learn more and the culinary arts. Of course, his mother was crying when she sent him off to go halfway around the world for college, but kept telling Matthew not to let her hold him back.

Once he was at the college in France and had settled down in his dorm room, he dove into his studies. He even saved up enough money to buy a small oven and stove set for the dorm room so he could practice when he wasn't in class. Though, the other building in hall didn't mind since Matthew normally asked some of them to try out his food and see how it was, which he normally got a good response. The blonde still had some tough times though, and at one point had almost convinced himself to go back home and give up his dream of being a grand chef.

But, with determination, anything is of course, possible. Matthew graduated and made a name for himself while studying in France. Many famous people scout young and fresh talent to be chefs for dinner parties, events and the like, paying big money. He was invited to conduct grand events and help with serving and catering operation. It was nice to finally have some extra money and even sent some of it home to his mother.

Being the son of a single mother, he knew things were not always sugar and gumdrops in life. His mother refused it many of times, but Matthew could be stubborn at times and insisted on her taking it. He still remembered how happy she looked sending him off that day, and realized how long it had been since he had come home and saw his mother. Matthew didn't want it to be because she was so sick, and now wished that he had come to visit her more often.

Matthew told Alfred that he was almost home and that he would see him soon. He then hung up and tossed his phone on to the seat next to him.

* * *

Sighing to himself he kept on driving through the now thick and wooded area of the town. Miles of trees surrounded him on each side of the unevenly paved road. With his headlights on he made his way down a bit further and pulled up to the white Victorian styled house. The blonde couldn't help but smile to himself seeing his home once again. He turned the car off and shoved the keys into his pocket and reached over for his bag and opened up the car door. The young male got out with a yawn and leaned back against the door, closing it. Walking over to the front door, he noticed the living room lights on.

Taking his keys back out, he quietly opened the door and stepped inside. He heard the TV on in the living room and closed the door as to not to disturb whoever was in there at the moment. Matthew placed his bag down and slipped his shoes off, placing them to the side and stood up, stretching his arms out. His jet lag was getting to him and didn't know how much longer he could keep himself awake.

Just as he was about to bend back down and pick his bag back up, he heard someone walk into the hallway. Looking up he saw Alfred standing there, looking at him with a glass of ice water in his hand. "Holy shit Mattie!" Alfred said, but not too loud as to disturb their mother. He came over to him and gave him a bone-crushing hug, which had Matthew tapping his shoulder in a matter of seconds. Once he was able to breath again, he was able to get a look at his older brother.

Alfred had gotten an inch or two taller the last time he saw him, and his skin had a nice tan to it, probably from being out in the sun practicing football all day. Though then again, Alfred had always been bigger than Matthew, and stronger. Sometimes, when Matthew was younger, he swore he thought Alfred was a superhero or something. By now, he knew not to tell his brother that, or else he's never hear the end of it.

"It's nice to see you again, Alfie." Matthew said and smiled up at him, bending down to pick his bag up. Standing back up, he looked at the ice water in his hand before looking back up at Alfred.

"How is she?" He asked softly and saw Alfred's smile melt from his face. Matthew saw the older blonde cast his gaze slightly downwards and a sad look entered his eyes. Alfred just shook his head side to side before looking back up and handing the ice water to Matthew. "You give it to her...she'll wanna see you too." He told him.

Nodding his head, Matthew took the cold glass and slowly walked into the living tv on the wall was playing the news station and the couch had been moved slightly more towards it. Swallowing the slowly form lump in his throat he placed his bag down beside the couch and looked at the fragile woman sitting on it. She was wrapped up in a white shawl and a long, soft, blue floral dress with tiny fuzzy slippers on her feet. His mother still hadn't looked away from the TV yet, and Matthew was a bit thankful for that, since it gave him a chance to swipe the tears that had formed around the corners of his eyes. He cleared his throat softly and tried not to think about how she looked like when she was sending him off to college. Matthew's mother was always a lively person, and was always smiling. He didn't recognize the person sitting down next to him. She looked very old, and tried; wearing thick framed glasses that made her blue eyes look hazy.

"Mom?"

Matthew called out to her and moved a bit closer hoping to get her attention. He watched her turned from the tv to him and blink her owlish eyes. "Alfred? Oh...water thank you...I've wanted a glass." She spoke, her voice seemed like static and it made Matthew's heart flinch.

"No, mom...it's me, Matthew. Alfred is over there." Matthew said and pointed to Alfred you was hanging out near the windows that viewed the front lawn. His mother looked between the two of them for a moment and then nodded her head. "Matthew...oh Matthew…" She said and saw a tiny trace of a smile. It made him smile sadly but nodded his head.

"Yeah, I'm here mom." He told her and slowly handed her the glass of water. Matthew watched as she tried to take a sip of it, most of the water spilling down her chin. Quickly, Matthew looked for a napkin or something to wipe the mess, and saw Alfred hold out a handkerchief and gave it to Matthew, whispering a soft 'thank you' to him. Turning back around he gently daped the cloth against her chin, and wondered for a moment if she knew what was going on. She was holding the glass of water in her lap now staring at the tv once again.

Matthew cleared his throat once again and placed one of his hands gently on her shoulder. "Mom, mom it's Matthew...your son? Remember I went away to France to study? I'm home now." He said slowly in chances that she would understand him.

Matthew's mother slowly turned and nodded her head, and gave him a blissful smile. "Alfred, could you be a dear...and get me a glass of water?" She said and turned away, humming to herself softly.

It took Matthew by surprise and didn't know what to do at the moment. He was thankful for his brother to could him and hold his arm, helping him stand up from the couch. Alfred brought him into the kitchen and helped his younger brother sit himself at the wooden table and he crumble in his seat. The taller male didn't have to turn around to tell he was crying silently. Matthew never once liked to cry out loudly and simply let the tears fall down his face. Even when they were first trying for sports and Matthew broke his wrist playing hockey he didn't wail or scream, but just let his eyes fill up with tears.

Even now, as Alfred filled another glass of water and turned to look at him, he saw that his elbows were on the table and his hands buried in his blonde hair. His glasses sat next to him on the table as his bangs swept over his eyes, hiding them from Alfred's sight. He settled the glass in front of his brother and gave him a worried look when he didn't pick his head up.

"She doesn't remember me…"

"No, Mattie, it's not that she doesn't remember you, she's just really sick and everything okay? She just needs some time for herself to put the pieces together, her mind isn't as sharp as it use to be." He told him and rested his hand on his brother's back.

"Don't be too hard on yourself Mattie. It's not your fault that you followed your dream and everything...Remember how happy she was to hear that you were going to be a great chef? She was crying, she was so happy for you." He said.

"You've had a long day, go get some rest, I'll put mom to bed and see you in the morning, okay?" He told him and patted his pack and walked back into the living room with his mother and sat down with her.

Matthew wiped his face of the salty tears and straighten up his back, placing his glasses back on his head. He stood up and took the water, downing it in one go, and walked over to the sink to rinse the glass out. He rolled up his sleeves a bit as he started with some of the other dishes in the basin and placed them in the drying rack. As he did so he remembered that Alfred would have to leave tomorrow, since he had his own job to attend to and all. That meant Matthew would be watching over his mother mostly, besides the nurses that would come by every week to check up on her and everything.

The blonde was about done with washing the dishes as his eyes flickered upwards to the little window that looked into the dark road and the forest beyond it. On the little window sill was a taped photo of Alfred, his mother and him when they first went fishing. For a moment, he let himself smile and peeled the tape off of it so he could see it better. He saw Alfred hold the fishing rod with a little fish on the hook and how proud he looked. His mother was wearing a white sun dress with a sun hat holding him in her arms. Matthew could see that he was reaching to try and get the fish off of the hook.

It took Matthew to realize that Alfred had stepped back into the dimly lit kitchen and stood beside him. "You know, I always thought that I caught the biggest fish in that lake. Nowadays they're just little bite sized babies, no fun." Alfred said with a smile.

"Yeah, yeah and I'm sure you've caught bigger?" Matthew teased him.

"Bigger than you ever have Mattie." He told him and the both of them started laughing at each other.

When their laughter had died down, they looked at each other for a few moments before Alfred broke the silence. "I've really missed you Matthew." He said softly.

"And I've missed you...the both of you."

"Ya'know, once you get everything settled in, I hooked you up with a job interview at one of the local high schools. They're looking for a new cooking instructor person so, I thought it would help you out, now that you're staying here and all. It probably doesn't pay as much as those fancy restaurants you worked for in Paris and all, but it's pretty good." Alfred said.

Matthew shook his head. "You didn't have to do that Alfred, really I could've found one on my own, but I guess a good pay wouldn't help." He said with a small smile. "But thanks."

Alfred gave his brother a crooked smile and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, about that…" he cleared his throat, "it's ahh, a …." Alfred muttered.

"What? I didn't catch that?"

"I said it's a cat….school…"

"A cat school?"

"A catholic school!" Alfred raised his voice a bit and immediately saw his brother's face drop.

"Alfred…" His brother said his name in a disappointed tone of voice.

"I know you don't like them-"

"I'd rather never cook again than step a foot inside a church again." Matthew cut in.

Alfred sighed. "It's not a church, I mean they have mass in the morning on some days but other than that it's a normal looking high school." He tried to explain to him.

Matthew chewed at his cheek a bit as he stared at Alfred with crossed arms. "I'll think about it." He told him and wished him a good night.

"Night Mattie."

"G'Night Alfie."

* * *

 **A/N:**

 _Hello everyone! I'm glad you decided to read my story today! This will end up being a France x Canada fanfiction, so if you like that you've come to the right place, if not, sorry! Hopefully I'll publish some stories that are to your interest as well! For now, thank you for reading and please comment/review! I love to know what others think and it'll help me improve!_


	2. Chapter 2

Cooking & the Language of Love

~Chapter Two~

The Setup

By: Ghost-girl-writes

* * *

Matthew probably had the worst night of his life back in his old bedroom. He felt like death when the clock read six o'clock a.m. and wanted to roll over, going back to sleep. Sadly, that didn't happen when Alfred was at his bedroom door, knocking on the door frame, already dressed in a suit and tie. Where did he have to go that needed at tie at six a.m.? "Common Mattie, one of the hospice nurses made us breakfast. I have a teacher's meeting at school so that means extra hours. Sorry I couldn't stay longer. I can probably help move your things in tomorrow though." He told him and disappeared back down the hallway.

Begrudgingly, Matthew hauled his body from the comfort of nicely warmed sheets and tugged on one of the many pairs of sweatpants he had brought with him the luggage he had decided to pack in his car on his way over. As he stood up, he felt dizzy and quickly sat back down. Letting out a loud groan, he found a shirt nearby and put that on as well. The blonde found his glasses and put them on and straighten his bedhead out a little bit before going down stairs.

When he got down stairs he saw the TV in the living room was on, and the body of his mother already sitting up in a shawl and dress, different from last night. Matthew turned towards the other door and into the kitchen to see a woman with long brown hair over near the sink. Alfred was pouring himself a cup of coffee and asked Matthew if he'd like one as well, which he agreed to quickly. He normally wasn't the one to have caffeine in the morning, but after the night he's had, he felt like he could drink the whole jug full of it. It was at that moment, Alfred had chosen to introduce the hospice nurse, who was drying her hands off with a towel. "Mattie, Elizaveta...Elizaveta, Mattie." Alfred said.

Elizaveta came over and shook Matthew's hand. "It's nice to meet you, Matthew. Alfred has told me a lot about you." She said, and Matthew smiled at her.

"Has he now?" He spoke and glanced over at his brother, who gave him a goofy grin.

Elizaveta hummed softly, she then went over to the counter and brought him over a plate of eggs and bacon. "I hope it's to your liking." She said and then walked over to Alfred.

"I need to give her another dosage of her medicine. I talked to her and she said that she was starting to feel numb in a few places." Matthew heard Elizaveta tell Alfred in a hushed voice.

Matthew heard Alfred answer with a muttered response and Elizaveta left to go over to the living room. The younger blonde looked over at Alfred who was finishing the last of his coffee. Alfred then pulled a seat up to the table and sat down beside his brother. The two didn't say anything for a moment, as Matthew finally started eating his food. He couldn't help but want to point out that the eggs were undercooked and that the bacon was burnt, but was just thankful to have something in his empty stomach. The younger had picked up his coffee cup and was taking a sip from it, when Alfred cleared his throat. Matthew placed the cup back down and raised an eyebrow at him.

"I kinda wanted to talk to you about that school job." Alfred said as he folded his fingers across each other as he looked at his brother.

"Alfred, you know fully well that I don't like churches or anything like that." Matthew said with a tiredness in his voice that wasn't there before.

"Matthew, believe me, I know you don't but just listen to me okay? Yes, they have mass and do services, but teachers and other students don't have to go to them if they don't want to." Alfred explained to him.

"Besides, I talked to their principle, and he was very eager to hear that you were looking for a job as an instructor of something." Alfred continued.

Matthew simply sighed and looked at his coffee cup. He didn't know what to say to the other at that moment, but he knew Alfred wouldn't give up on something so easily. "Alright," he finally said after a moment of silence, "but I'll only go for the interview. Don't think that just because he says I can have the job, doesn't mean I'll take it." Matthew said sternly, hoping his brother would understand.

"Don't worry, I get it. This place is really a nice school, and I think you'll like it." He told Matthew as he downed the last of coffee, smacking his lips and then stood up.

"We'll talk later okay? I have to get going, see you later Mattie." He said and ruffled his brother's already messy hair.

Alfred walked into the living room and Matthew could he was exchanging a few words with Elizaveta before saying goodbye to mom, and then left the house to go to work. The young male continued to sit in the kitchen by himself and pushed the leftover food on his plate around with his fork. He stayed like that for a while before getting tired and cleaning his plate off and dumped the rest of the coffee in the sink. As he was rinsing the plate and mug out, he heard Elizaveta come into the kitchen. She didn't say anything and he didn't say anything to her. Though he noticed her reflection in the tiny window. She was going through a black bag and pulled out a stethoscope from it and then walked back into the living room. For a moment, Matthew wondered if he should go into the living room and try to start up a conversation with his mother in hopes that today she was feeling a bit better. When he was done he wiped his hands dry with a towel rag and wandered into the living room. He stood by the door frame and watched as Elizaveta was checking her.

Matthew tapped slightly on the wooden door frame to get her attention, to which he did and saw her look up. "Hey." She said and placed the device around her neck as she looked up at him.

"How is she?" He asked softly.

"Your mother is doing very well today." She told him as she glanced over at her.

"Alfred told me what happened, but please don't think that she doesn't love you, her illness is affecting her memory." She told him with a hint of sadness in her eyes.

Matthew took a seat next to her and looked over at his mother, who was watching the TV with hazy eyes. He felt his lip quiver for a moment before dragging his wrist gently against it. The blonde folded his hands together and rested them on his lap. He wanted to speak to his mother, but had no clue what to say. Maybe he shouldn't say anything at all if she was only going to mistake him for Alfred again. "I should probably go shopping for some food today." Matthew spoke to neither of the two women in particular.

"Oh, Alfred dear, there you are...could you fetch me a glass of water?" His mother spoke as he stood up.

"Miss. Williams, this is your son Matthew, remember Alfred left for work?" Elizaveta spoke up, but when she turned to look at Matthew, she couldn't help but see the hurt look on his face.

"I'll be right back." Matthew said and went to go get her a glass of ice water.

As Matthew stood over the sink with the glass he heard Elizaveta come up behind him. "I know you must be feeling hurt right now. Having to suddenly come home and have your mother not remember you, but I'm sure if you just stayed by her side for a little bit, her memory will come back." Elizaveta said, trying to comfort the other.

"The doctors said that she doesn't have much longer to live. If that's the case, she'll pass away thinking she only had one son." Matthew said with a bitter taste in his mouth.

"Matthew don't think like that." Elizaveta said.

"Sorry…"

"Anyways, here," Matthew handed her the glass of ice water, "you should give it to her. I need to go get some food." He told her and headed up stairs.

"Matthew!" He heard Elizaveta called after him, but he didn't look back or stop.

Going back in his bedroom he closed the door and rested his back against it for a few moments. He let his head tilt back until it hit the wood panel behind him and closed his eyes. Why did he have to come back here? He could've just stayed with Gilbert and flew in for the funeral, as cruel as it sounded, if he knew it would have been like this well, Matthew thought it probably would've been best for everyone if he had stayed away. Running a hand down his face Matthew regretted the thought, this was his mother, the person who gave him everything so he couldn't think this way about her. Calming himself down for a minute her pushed himself off of the door and started to get ready.

He replaced his sweatpants with a pair of jeans and threw on a pair of sneakers; he then went over to the attached bathroom and brushed his teeth, his hair and washed his face. Once he was done he grabbed his wallet from his bag as well as his phone and shoved them in his pockets before making his way over to his door and opening it.

Matthew walked down stairs and saw from the stairway that Elizaveta and his mother were simply watching TV together and casually talking. He didn't say anything and walked out the door, making sure it was locked behind him. Making his way over to his car he got in and started it up. He backed up and was back on the dirt road once again. The blonde flipped on the radio and tuned into a station that actually came in clearly, that was probably the only thing he hated about living so far away from the town. Though, once he did find a station he slouched in his seat a bit as he drove into town.

* * *

After driving for about an hour, he was able to reach the town's grocery store. He parked towards the back of the lot, though the place didn't see that crowded at this time of day. Matthew got out and closed the car door, locking it and made his ways towards the store's entrance. Grabbing a cart he looked around the place. A lot of things had changed inside the store since he was last here, and it seemed a bit bigger. Reading some of the signs he went over and got some loaves of bread, placing them in the cart.

Once he had a few items in his cart he went over to the small deli that was there towards the frozen foods section. He pulled a number from the tiny machine and waited for his turn. Matthew leaned forwards against his cart as he waited in the tiny line for the people to take his order. 'I wonder if mom still likes eating ham? Can she even eat ham anymore?' Matthew thought to himself as he heard his number being called. "Here." He said and made his way over to the counter.

"I'll have a quarter pound of American cheese, ham, and a half pound of steak, please?" He asked the man, who was writing down his order.

The man behind the counter nodded and told him it would be done and ready in a minute. Matthew waited towards the side of the counter and pulled out his phone to keep him busy. However, he heard his name being called and looked up, wondering who it could possibly be. Matthew spotted the person right away. "Hey, if it isn't little Mattie!" He heard the feminine voice say to him.

"Katyusha! Hey, its been a while!" He said as the short, blonde haired woman came up to him.

"My, have you changed so much!" She said, a bit of laughter in her voice.

"Your hair is longer and you've built up a bit of muscle!" She said and smiled.

"Yeah, the town had a local hockey team that I was able to join and became the captain, but I couldn't stay in the league for long." He explained.

"When did you get back into town?" She asked him as she looked at him up and down.

Matthew laughed along with her and rubbed the nape of his neck. "I got in last night, I'm helping take care of my mother." He explained, to which he saw Katyusha cover her mouth.

"Oh, Mattie! I'm so sorry, I completely forgot that your brother had said that!" She said and gave him a sympathetic look.

"It's alright, the hospice nurse said that she's having a good day today." He told her.

"Oh thank heavens." She said, and placed a hand over her heart, "If you ever need anything, please tell me." She said.

"I will, thank you. So, how have things been with you?" He asked, wanting to catch up with her.

Katyusha was an old high school friend, one of the few that he had made during his four years at the public school. Besides his brother and Katyusha, he didn't really have anyone else to talk to. It was nice, even though many of the other students spread rumors about how they must be going out, which they never did. In fact, Katyusha was over his house one day, helping with a new recipe for lemon tarts when she blurted out that she was gay. It took Matthew by surprise at first, and then saw that she had started tearing up, thinking that he would reject her. He told her that was fine, and that he still loved her as a friend. To which she then hugged him and was so thankful for that.

"My younger brother is now a Literary teacher at St. Anthony's high school. He says that he really loves it there. I haven't been up to much myself honestly. Just running my flower shop really." She said as she tucked a piece of blonde hair back into place.

"What about you, I'm sure you have some stories to tell, having done to France and all.?" She questioned.

"Ah, that might be for another day...but St. Anthony's high school, that's the Catholic high school right?" He asked her.

"Why yes it is!"

"I see…"

Katyusha gave Matthew a strange look, but told her that it was just his jet lag. The many behind the counter called out his order and said goodbye to her as went over to get his things. Placing them in the cart he continued shopping. As he walked down one of the aisle, he saw a saw a mother, holding her baby in her arms as she picked out some food.

That was when it hit him.

Matthew quickly turned the cart around and went over to the fruits and vegetables. He would make pineapple upside down cupcakes. His mother had always loved them whenever he made them, and said that they were her favorite. Maybe making it would help her mind remember him. As impossible and irrational as that sounded, it did give Matthew a bit of hope. The least he could do was try for her. He got the ingredients he needed and went to go check out.

Getting back to his car, he loaded the bags stuffed with foods into his car, placed the cart back and was pulling out of the parking lot in no time. As he drove back home, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out. It was a text message from Alfred,

' _Hey Mattie! Just wanted to let you know that the interview is scheduled for this Friday 7 a.m. with the principle! Where something nice! I'm sure being in Europe for a few years now has improved your fashion sense!_ '

Matthew rolled his eyes at the message, simply replying with, ' _Okay_ ', and then put his phone back in his pocket. He had two days to get ready for the interview and wanted to simply crawl under a rock. The thought of stepping inside a church again made his stomach twist in on itself and felt like he needed to pull over to puke, but kept driving home.

* * *

An hour later he was back home and bring the bags in from the store and settling them on the kitchen table. Once he was done he went over to see that his mother and Elizaveta were no longer in the living room. "Mom?" He called out and heard a door from down the hallway open up. Glancing over he saw Elizaveta walking out of her bedroom. "I just put her down for her afternoon nap." Elizaveta said.

She walked over to the kitchen and looked at Matthew. "Need some help?" She asked.

"No I got it." Matthew said and started taking the food out of the bags and putting them where they belonged.

Once that was done, he started getting everything he needed to make the pineapple upside down cupcakes and grabbed an apron from the linen closet. He took out his phone and placed towards the side and clicked on a playlist he had created just for cooking meals. At this point, Matthew didn't even care that Elizaveta was watching him from the other side of the kitchen with interest. He hummed along to the song being played as he took a rather large knife to the pineapple and started cutting it with precision and then into tiny little bits. He put them in the fridge for later and started making the batter bottom part of the cupcakes. When Matthew cook, he was in a world of his own, and didn't liked to be bothered.

Though, soon enough, Matthew was done baking and was putting the final touches on the little treats. Once they were cool enough, he popped them out of the tray and on to a serving dish. He then got out the whipped cream and cherries that he bought and put a bit of the whipped cream on each one. Matthew then topped them all off with a cherry, and smiled to himself as he looked at his completed work.

"That was quite impressive." Elizaveta said, getting Matthew's attention.

"Thanks." He said and looked back down at the tiny cupcakes.

"These were my mother's favorite treats that I made, so I just thought…" His voice trailed off and Elizaveta nodded her head, understanding his reason.

"I'm sure once she wakes up, she'll love to have one of them." She said and came over to place her hand on Matthew's shoulder.

An hour passed by before his mother woke up from her nap. Matthew came into the room with a cupcake on a smaller dish, and fork so that she could eat it. He settled the plate down on her lap as she sat up a bit to eat it.

Matthew watched as she slowly grabbed the fork and took a piece of it into her mouth. He watched her eyes light up, and his did the same. "So, do you like them?" He asked her and watched as she looked over at him.

"I wish my son could bake like you, I could have these all day." She said with a tired, but cheery voice.

He the air come out of this lungs and his smile fell in an instant. Matthew said nothing more and simply walked out of the room to let his mother eat in peace. Again he ignored Elizaveta as she tried to cheer him up with her words, but he didn't want to hear them. Matthew crawled back into his room and closed the door, going back to bed.

* * *

By the time the day for the interview came to, Matthew had all his things that he had taken with him from Germany stored in the garage behind the house until he could find a place to stay. Anything else like clothing and other essentials he brought with him into the house. With help from Alfred he was able to do it in half the time it would have taken him to do it by himself.

"I'm not looking forward to this." Matthew said as he was getting ready in the bathroom, Alfred leaning up against the door frame.

His brother was dressed in gym shorts and white t-shirt with the school's logo on front, and a whistle hung around his neck. He really did look like a coach. Matthew on the other hand was dressed in black slacks with a grey button up shirt and matching black tie, which he was currently trying to tie. His hair curled around to frame his face and swept around his neck a bit.

"You'll be fine. The principle is really nice and he'll show you around." He said to him.

"I still don't look forward to this. I can easily get a job at a restaurant or even one in the text town over." Matthew explained as he finished tying the tie around his neck, and straighten out his shirt a bit.

"And drive nearly two hours back and forth, no way!" Alfred said and looked at his brother.

"Alright, alright," Matthew said, "I better get going then if I don't want to be late or anything." He told him and stepped past him to get into the hall.

"G'Luck Mattie!" Alfred called after as he left the house.

Matthew got on the road and put the directions into his phone as he was at a red light at the end of the dirt road. Roughly an hour later he saw the school coming up on right. It looked like a rather impressive school to say the least.

It was a very long building with three floors to it. There were little rose bushes out near the front entrance where giant oak doors were closed. The building was made of old, red bricks and as he pulled into the lot out front, saw the name of the school written in cursive lettering above the door. Above that was a metal cross with roses at the bottom of it. To the far right he saw that there was a separate building, and from where he sat knew that it was the church. Just being so close to it made him cringe and wanted to turn the car around and go back home. But he didn't.

He sat in his car for a few minutes, trying to relax his racing heart, before getting out and grabbing his messenger bag. Slowly he walked towards the giant doors and rang the bell to the side of them as he waited to get buzzed in. When he heard the vibration he opened up one of the big doors and stepped inside.

It was a bit cooler inside the building, even though autumn was right around the corner, afternoons still got pretty hot. As he walked in and looked around, he saw a giant wooden cross, with fake plants and shrubs on it with a verse from the bible, etched into a stone plate at the foot of it. It made the young blonde look away quickly and went to go find the main office.

Matthew was glad that there were no scriptures or crosses in the office. He went over to one of the people working at the front desk and took out his ID card. "I'm Matthew Williams, I'm for an interview with the principle." He told them as one of them checked his card.

"You're all set, Mr. Kirkland will see you then." The man said and handed him his card back.

The young blonde walked over to the room and knocked on his door before stepping inside. Where he saw Mr. Kirkland at his desk, scribbling his signature on a piece of paper. He saw the man glance up at him with bright green eyes and for a moment thought that he was going to yell at him to get out. Instead, a small smile came to his face and sat up in his seat. "Ah, you must be Matthew, please have a seat." He gestured to one of the two lovely chairs facing his desk.

Matthew sat in one of them and placed his bag on his lap. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Kirkland, I see you've gotten my papers." Matthew said as he saw his application on his desk.

"I have, and I honestly thought that your brother was playing a trick on me." Mr. Kirkland said as he picked the piece of paper up and read it over again.

"You're overqualified for the job, no doubt about that. I would've hired you without even having this meeting, but Alfred insisted on it. So here we are." Mr. Kirkland explained.

"Ah, yes. Thank you but I would really like to see the school and everything." He told him.

"Nothing wrong with that my dear boy." Mr. Kirkland said with a wave of his hand, "I just have a few questions for you and then I'll have a staff member show you around."

"Yes of course." Matthew said.

Mr. Kirkland asked him some of the basics, like had he ever used drug or alcohol, been to jail and all that kind of questioning. Even if Matthew had never done such a thing in his life, he was still a bit nervous answering the questions. After they were done, he buzzed one of the people working out front to call a teacher down, who was free or had a prep period to come show Matthew around the school.

"I hope you find St. Anthony's to your liking Mr. Williams, we'd be overly thrilled to have you as a new instructor." Mr. Kirkland said, "You can wait out in front for whoever if you'd like." He offered and Matthew nodded his head, getting up and thanking Mr. Kirkland for his time.

He opened the door to leave and closed it gently behind him. Matthew pulled opened his bag, to fish his phone out so that he wasn't bored out of his tree while waiting for whoever it was to get him, when he walked right into someone.

Matthew felt two, warm hands hold his arms in place as he stumbled a bit. He nearly dropped his whole bag onto the floor and gripped it tightly and pulled it towards his chest. His eyes flickered up to see who he had bumped into to say sorry when he was met with a gorgeous set of sparkling blue eyes. He went to open his mouth but no words came out of it.

"My, my, I didn't think I'd have someone throw themselves into my arms so early this morning." The blonde man said, his hair pulled back into a loose ponytail.

"No-well I-"

"Mr. Bonnefoy, this is the new culinary teacher, Mr. Williams." The man from before spoke up behind the desk.

"Ah, so I will be the one showing you around today." Mr. Bonnefoy said to him with a charming smile on his face.

"Yes, thank you for helping me out." Matthew said as he followed the other out of the office.

Matthew trained behind Mr. Bonnefoy for a moment or two, once they were down one of the first hallways of the building. He glanced over at the other teacher who was looking out some of the windows as they passed by.

The younger blonde cleared his throat, "So, Mr. Bonnefoy, what do you teach here?" Matthew asked, as they continued walking.

"I'm the French language teacher here." He told him as he turned to talk to the shorter blonde.

"Oh! Je suis allé en France pour le collège. Il est un endroit merveilleux!" {I went to France for college. It's a wonderful place.} Matthew said, and saw the look of awe of Mr. Bonnefoy's face.

"Ah, Mr. Williams, I think that we are going to get along just fine." Mr. Bonnefoy said, with a slight smile on his lips.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 _Hello everybody, once again! I really hoped you liked this chapter! Things will start to pick up soon and drama will start happening, so please stay tune for that! Other than that, happy writing!_


	3. Chapter 3

Cooking & the Language of Love

~Chapter Three~

The Ingredients

By: Ghost-girl-writes

* * *

 **Warning: This chapter contains violent acts in the name of religion, if that upsets you or you do not like that, you have been warned.**

* * *

"...and here are the English classrooms. As you can see we like to keep subjects that are similar in the same corridors, so students aren't running around." Mr. Bonnefoy stated.

"Many students here tend to keep to one subject and take electives that involve their favorite subject matter and the like."

Matthew and Mr. Bonnefoy had been walking around the school for about an hour now, it was truly a massive school. They had already seen the gym, library, cafeteria and the majority of the classrooms and such. He even noticed the school uniforms that all the students wore when they walked by open classroom doors. It made his skin crawl with nauseating memories that he quickly pushed away and continued walking along side Mr. Bonnefoy. The younger blonde couldn't help but noticed some of the old torch holders nailed into some of the walls above the lockers as they passed by them. Though, it was pretty to look at, Matthew still felt an uneasy feeling settling in his stomach. "So, Mr. Bonnefoy-"

"Please, call me Francis. No need to be so formal when it's just us."

"Right, sorry, Francis, when did you move into town?" Matthew asked, and saw Francis dig through his mind.

"Ah, about two years ago, from France of course." He told him with a bright, and very white smile.

Matthew hummed and they continued on walking down one of the hallways. As they walked they came passed a stained glass window, with a depiction of a scene from the bible. They both came to a stop together to gaze at it. He noticed a small smile on Francis' face as he gazed at the colored glass. His eyes drifted back over to the window and noticed that it was Jesus being crucified on the cross. Immediately on instinct Matthew grabbed his left hand with his right and slowly started rubbing it in small circular motions.

Hoping to start moving again he asked Francis where his classroom would be, if he took the job, and he broke his gaze from the glass and nodded his head. "Right this way." He said and lead him down the seemingly never ending hallway.

They took a right turn down a hallway and stopped outside a classroom with the lights off. "My classroom and the other foreign language classes are right down this hallway and to the left." Francis informed him.

Matthew nodded his head and watched as Francis pulled the large door open and reached inside the dark classroom to flick the light switch. The lights flickered back and forth for a moment or two, before staying on. The taller blonde stepped to the side so that Matthew could enter the room first. It was a rather large room, which was nice, definitely fitting for holding the equipment he saw in the room.

At the very back of the room was a large chalkboard, untouched and its surface smooth and clean. There was a rather large wooden desk in front of it with a chair placed neatly in the center of it. Matthew took a few steps into the room and came to one of the six large stations that were equipped with an oven and stove burners on top. He checked one of them over and moved to open an oven and inspected the inside. The young blonde looked around a bit more, the connected storage room, where all the supplies were, the desk, and other items, all while Francis leaned against one of the desks watching his potential co-worker wander around the room silently.

After a few moments, he cleared his throat and push himself away from the desk, seeing Matthew turn around and look at him. "I hope you are finding nothing wrong with the room." He spoke and made his way over to him.

"Oh no, the room is fine."

"That's good, but I can see you're a bit uneasy." Francis said and watched Matthew run a hand through his locks of hair.

"More so stress than uneasiness." Matthew told him.

"I hope you don't mind me prying." Francis said quickly.

"Oh, no...not at all, my roommate on the other hand..." Matthew trailed off with a slight smile.

This made Francis raise a perfectly plucked eyebrow at the male. "You have a roommate?" He asked him, a curious look on his face.

"Well, had a roommate I should say. I studied in France and moved to Germany for a bit and had a roommate, Gilbert. He was...well he was something really." He told him.

"Couldn't really hide anything from the likes of him, practically the definition of nosy." Matthew added.

Francis hummed softly and noticed a small tug at the corner of his lips. "May I ask why you came back to the states?" He asked.

The Frenchman immediately noticed the shift in Matthew's posture and his shoulder slump slightly. There was a brief moment of silence and he had wondered if he should not have asked such a question. However, before he could say to forget about it, Matthew spoke up. "My mother is sick, and she doesn't have a lot of time. So I decided to move back here, to spend her last days together."

"Matthew I'm terribly sorry, I was very insensit-"

"It's alright, really. Not many people know, but the nurse says that she's having more good days than bad."

Francis walked over and placed a hand on Matthew's shoulder. "I'm glad to hear that she is doing well. Everyone here at the school will support you, if you wish to teach here that is." He said and looked down at Matthew.

The shorter male adjusted his glasses and nodded his head. "Yeah..." His voice trailing off.

The two spent a moment like that before exiting the room. There wasn't much left to explore of the school after visiting his potential classroom domain and eventually found himself back in the lobby standing and chatting with Francis. "I hope to hear your answer soon." Francis said.

"Yes, as do I."

"To be honest, it'll be fun to have someone to talk to in my mother tongue. It'll make the other language teachers a bit jealous." Francis gave an airy chuckle, to which Matthew laughed a bit.

"It would be nice, wouldn't?"

"Hm."

"Well, maybe I'll see you around then, Mr. Bonnefoy."

"Mr. Williams."

They said goodbye to each other and Matthew slipped his messenger bag over his shoulder and headed for the large double doors. By that time, Francis had disappeared down one of the hallways back to his classroom. Mulling over his experience, he hated to admit it, but Alfred was a bit right. The place wasn't completely bad, and he didn't have to go to mass with the other students and teachers. He could just stay in his classroom and set up things for his class, or maybe read a nice book while he waited. It seemed nice, really nice.

Matthew yanked one of the double doors open and managed for the second time that day to bump into someone. "Oh I'm terribly sorry!" He said and felt the person grab onto his wrist so that they didn't fall over.

"Nothing to worry about my son, my legs aren't as strong as they use to be." The man in all black said.

Without hesitation Matthew yanked his wrist away from the man and stared at him like a deer in headlights, which didn't go unnoticed by the elderly priest. He had a worried look on his face as the male in front of him turned a ghostly white. "Are you alright son? Your face is a bit pale, maybe should have the nurse take a look at you?" He suggested, to which Matthew quickly shook his head.

"Thank you, but have to go."

And as quickly as possible made his way around the priest and told himself to not spirit to his car and lock the doors. Once inside the vehicle he started it up and drove out of the lot and on to the street. Matthew felt his heartbeat in his ears and quickly turned his car down a tiny alleyway for a moment to regain himself and calm down before driving any further. His hands felt glued to steering wheel as his chest rose and fell rather rapidly. The blonde closed his eyes for a moment and mumbled soft words to himself, before slowly removing his iron grip from the wheel. Once his eyes were opened again they gradually fell to his wrist, looking at the delicate skin.

Gently he took his right hand and rubbed his left wrist softly, being careful over the scarred skin. The scars were barely visible now, all that was left was the discolored and healed skin in its place, but that didn't mean the memories weren't still there, just under the surface.

Matthew took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose a bit after a moment of rubbing his wrist and let out a long sigh. Slipping his glasses back on, he tossed his bag in the passenger side seat and started the car up again. He buckled up and slowly pulled out of the alleyway and back on to the main road.

As he drove back home, Matthew kept glancing down at his wrist, not taking note as to how grey the sky was getting as he headed back down the dirt road. The sky above was growing heavy with rain clouds and soon they were swollen enough to empty the clear droplets down on to the town and surround area. He flicked on the wipers as he continued driving and his headlights to light up the misting roadway. Matthew caught a glimpse of the white roof of his old home through the trees and slowed the car down. The vehicle eventually came to a stop in the middle of road, a few yards from the driveway.

The rain was coming down a lot harder now and the world outside the car was blurry and soaked. Matthew sat there in the silence of the hammering rain and the automatic tune of the windshield wipers creaking back and forth. He stared at the living room windows and saw Elizaveta standing there with a tray in her hands. She disappeared from view, no doubt going to help his mother with her lunch and feed her.

Matthew pressed his back against his seat and took his hands off of the wheel, simply staring out the front window of his car.

Why did all of this have to happen?

What was he suppose to do now?

Did he just have to keep pretending that it doesn't hurt having to watch his mother dying, thinking she only had one son?

Why did she remember Alfred and not him? Why did her mind choose to shut him out?

Why did he have to leave? To go away? Why didn't he stay?

Was this his fault?

Did he do something wrong?

No...no, no, Matthew did nothing wrong...

That's what he always told him.

"Nothing's wrong..." Matthew whispered to himself, his mind spinning of memories.

A few tears slipped down his face and moved his hand to wipe them away quickly.

* * *

Eventually, Matthew pulled himself together and drove the car up to the driveway and parked it out front. After he gathered his things and locked the doors, he made his way inside. From the car to the house, his shirt was completely soaked through from the pouring rain. Elizaveta came into the hall to greet Matthew. He was taking his shoes off as she came over to him.

"Your mother is doing well today, she's taking a nap right now. I just thought you wanted-"

"Thank you, Elizaveta." Matthew said as he quickly put his shoes to the side and grabbed his bag.

She cleared her throat, "How was the interview today with the school?" She asked him as he walked towards the stairs.

"It was good, good."'

"That's nice to hear. Will you take the job?" She asked.

"Maybe."

Matthew went up to his bedroom and closed the door as he loosened his tie. He tossed it on top of his dresser and unbuttoned his shirt as he made his way to the bathroom.

He turned on the sink and let it run for a little bit so that it was nice and cold. Reaching forward, Matthew cupped the icy water and splashed his face a few times with it. Taking a towel from the rack and wiping his face and glasses afterwards. After that, he closed the bathroom door and turned on the shower.

He looked out the tiny window that viewed into the backyard and the forest beyond as the room filled up with steam. The blonde ridded himself of the rest of his clothing and stepped into the hot shower. Matthew let out a long, loud sigh as the hot water rained over him. He stood under the water for a few minutes before he started to wash himself.

As time ticked on, he found himself thinking of the job offer. The pay was nice, really nice for a teacher these days, and if he was smart with his money, he could find a place soon enough so he didn't have stay here and worry about his mother. The hours were nice too, and he only had three periods to teach and he loved teaching others to cook, so it wasn't like it was hard. Matthew worried his lower lip between his teeth as he thought to himself.

After washing out his hair for about the third time, he finally decided that he should get out of the shower and put some clothes on. Begrudgingly he turned the hot water off and pulled the curtain back, meeting a bathroom full of steam. He walked over to the tiny window and opened it a bit to help let some of it out.

Matthew grabbed a towel and started dry on himself off before opening the bathroom door and walking back into his bedroom. He threw on a pair of briefs he found and a red and black plaid button up shirt, crawled into bed and snuggled under the covers. The young male rolled over and looked at the toxic green numbers of the clock on his bedside table and saw that it was barely two o'clock, yet his body was already so tired.

He decided it was best to just take a quick nap to recharge himself. Taking his phone out, he set an alarm for an hour and placed on the wooden table. Matthew curled up in a ball and drifted peaceful to sleep.

* * *

 _It smells like autumn._

His eyes fluttered open and saw Alfred standing there with a big smile on his face. "Hahah! Come on Mattie, get up, get up!" Alfred said, tugging at his arm and making him stand up from his comfortable bed.

"Father Julius said that we can have class outside today remember?"

"Right! He promised that last week, didn't he?"

"Yup! Come on."

 _That's right, Alfred had braces when we were little._

He watched his brother smile as they started to get dress. It was still early in the morning, seven o'clock, and as the tied their shoes, he could smell waffles cooking downstairs. "Last one down is a rotten egg!" Alfred said, the both of them squealing happily as they darted out of his room and down the stairs.

Of course, Alfred was the first one down the stairs and quickly seated at the table. Matthew sat down next to him and looked over at their mother humming and cooking near the stove. "You boys seem awfully happy to go to school today, why's that?" She asked as she turned around with to decorative plates in her hands.

"Father Julius said that we can have class outside today!" Alfred said as their mother placed the dishes in front of them.

"Well, it is a nice day today isn't it?"

Both boys hummed as they stuffed their faces with the delicious food. Soon enough, the two boys were done and ready to leave. They watched as their mother placed one of her sun hats on her head and lead them out the door to the car. Her lavender dress billowed around her as the wind swept up, sending a cool breeze over them.

After finally getting Alfred to calm down to get his seatbelt on, their mother pulled away from the house and headed down the road.

"Father Julius said that since our class was so good, we get to go outside! I can't wait! Do you think he'll let us play some games?"

"I dunno, but Father Simmons said that we're gonna receive communion soon so we have to practice for the ceremony." Matthew said.

"But Father Simmons is sooooo ollllld!" Alfred sighed.

"No he's not!"

"He looks like Santa Claus!"

"Boys..." Their mother said, in a mockingly stern tone.

"Sorry mom." They said in unison.

It wasn't long until they reached the church. It was still early for class to start, but the two boys already had their doors open and made their way up to the stone steps of the church. "Alfred! Matthew! Behave today, okay? Or not dessert tonight!" Their mother called after them.

"Okay!" They said, waving goodbye to their mother as she wandered over to a pair of other pairs that were already there.

Alfred and Matthew entered the church and took the first left down the long stone hallway towards the classrooms.

"Do you think Father Julius will tell us stories today?"

"He always tells us stories." Matthew said as they neared the door towards their class.

Alfred pushed the door open to reveal the off white room. A man dressed in all black with thick, brown curly hair was standing next to the chalk board, writing something on it.

"Good morning Father Julius!"

The priest turned around and smiled, placing the stick of chalk down. "Good morning Alfred."

He said and walked over to the brothers. The priest's hand ruffled Matthew's hair as younger boy smiled up at him. "And good morning Matthew."

"G'morning Father Julius."

"You two are early as usual." He said and walked back towards the board.

"Duh! You said we could have class outside today! Right!? You promised!"

"Yes I did," the older man laughed, "and we will. Once everyone is here and I take attendance." He told them.

The two of them took seats on the chairs that were placed around the room until the other kids arrived. Most of them played with some of the toys, and read some books while the Father made sure everyone was accounted for. Then, Father Julius helped guide all the kids outside in the courtyard of the church, telling them not to wander too far from where they were. He let the kids run around before pulling out a book and telling everyone to gather around him.

Everyone thought that he told the best stories. All the kids listened closely to his words and laughed at his funny expressions. Eventually, the story ended and said that they had a bit of time left outside, so the kids decided to play a game of tag. Of course, Alfred called being 'it' first and started chasing one of the girls around the grassy area.

Matthew was about to start running to find a hiding spot when he felt the Father place a hand on his shoulder. "Matthew, would you mind if we talk for a moment, before you go play?" He asked.

The blonde nodded his head, wondering if he had perhaps done something wrong, or was in trouble. "Nothing to be fearful of Matthew, you're a good student, one of the brightest minds here."

"Thank you." He said and smiled.

"Come, follow me."

Matthew trailed behind Father Julius and looked back to see that Alfred was now being chased by the girl he had tagged and smiled. "This way." Father Julius said, making the young boy turn around and continue to follow.

They entered the church and for a moment, wondered if it was a good idea to leave the rest of the class outside by themselves, but Matthew didn't know where the Father was taking him, and was more curious about that.

After walking for about a minute, they entered the part of the church where mass was held. Surprisingly, it was empty. Matthew looked back at Father Julius who was still walking, down the center aisle now, towards the front alter. The blonde trailed a few feet behind him and stopped at the base of the marble stairs.

He watched silently as Father Julius climbed the stairs and made his way towards the marble slab, behind the altar where the bread and wine were normally laid.

"Father-"

"Come on."

Matthew gave him a curious look, but climbed the stairs as well when the male commanded him to do so.

"Father, why are we here?" Matthew finally found his voice to ask him.

"Well, Matthew, you are certainly a special student. Bright, smart, kind, very thankful and honest. You are honest, right Matthew?" He said.

"Yes, I am." He said, shuffling his weight from one foot to another as he stood beside the male.

"Good, good, now Matthew, do you know what your name means?" He asked him.

The blonde shook his head from side to side slowly and watched as a smile formed on the priest's lips. "Well, I'll tell you." He said and turned from him to grab something from under the marble table.

Matthew watched him reveal a long wooden box, with etchings on the side that he could make out from where he was standing.

"Matthew means, 'gift of the lord', in Hebrew." He said and glanced at Matthew.

The young child simply nodded his head, understanding. Matthew watched as Father Julius flipped the top of the box off and saw that his smile never left his face. It made him feel uneasy and started shuffle his feet more.

"Uh, Father...can I go back outside? Alfred might be looking for me and he's very overprotect-"

"Silence."

Matthew jumped a little in his spot, having never heard the man before sound so upset.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He said, turning to face Matthew and ruffled his hair yet again, his smile back on his lips.

"Up we go."

Father Julius picked Matthew up from under his armpits and placed him on top of the marble table.

"Father, I don't think I should be-"

"Hush, hush, it's alright." He told him.

Matthew felt his heart skip a few beats and a lump form in his throat. He started to shake nervously on the cold, hard stone table, and noticed that Father Julius started humming softly under his breath.

Matthew felt his heart skip a few beats and a lump form in his throat. He started to shake nervously on the cold, hard stone table, and noticed that Father Julius started humming softly under his breath.

The young boy never felt scared around Father Julius before, but the way he was acting right now made him want to run away, but he felt frozen in his spot. It was at that moment, when Matthew caught a glimpse of the wooden box next to him.

He thought he was going to throw up at the sight of it, or pass out on the table. Long, wooden stakes were placed neatly inside the box and for a split second, Matthew regained control over his motor skills and tried getting off the table. But he wasn't quick enough.

Father Julius held Matthew down as he started struggling to try and get away. Before he knew it, his back was up against the cold marble, tears flooding his eyes as he begged for to stop. Matthew cried and stuttered out words of mercy as he saw the man grab a wooden stake from the box and held it above him.

The older man started reciting a verse from the bible that Matthew hadn't heard of before, but didn't care for as he begged for him to put the stake down.

"Please, I'm sorry! I don't know what I did but I confess please! Oh god, please!" Matthew cried hysterically at the man who was still reciting words.

Matthew continued to struggle and yelling bloody murder for help, praying that someone would hear him, anyone.

For a split second, he heard Father Julius stop his chanting and glanced up at him at the same moment the stake came down and pierced his left wrist. The tip of the stake almost going completely through the other side.

The boy's body convulsed with pain and shook like a leaf on the stone. His cries were pitched and his voice wavering, he could barely see straight as the pain shot through his body and tears trailed down his face.

He heard the clinking of wood against each other and knew he was grabbing another stake. At this point, Matthew was hyperventilating and thought that he really would pass out at any moment.

His eyes looked at his skewered wrist to see that his blood was staining the stone underneath it and sent a wave of panic over his body.

The young body didn't take notice to Father Julius as he recited the verse again, another stake in his hand as he aimed it for Matthew's other wrist. Slowly, his cries and pleas grew softer as he felt his vision blur and steadily grow dark around the corners. Matthew didn't even hear the church's side doors open or see Father Simmons standing their with a Bishop as Father Julius dropped the wooden weapon. The little, poor boy didn't even noticed that the Father had stopped holding him down, and was now running down the opposite hallway, or that he was being taken off the cold stone table.

That was when he passed out.

* * *

Matthew jolted up right out of his bed and saw Alfred standing there with a warm mug of something in his hands, and for a split second, he thought he was still dreaming. He could tell by the look on his brother's face that he had scared him to some degree, and if the heavy breathing that he heard was coming from him, then that meant that Alfred knew what had happen. Matthew placed a hand over his chest and felt his hand moving up and down quickly along with his breathing. He swallowed and looked away, tugging his blanket off of him and went to stand when Alfred practically jumped in front of him, sitting him back down.

"I heard you in your sleep." He said.

"It was nothing."

"Last time you said that, you ended up in the hospital."

"That was last time."

"Alfred, I'm fine okay."

"Matthew, listen, don't think I haven't thought about what happened to you when you said you'd come home."

"Alfred really-"

"No Mattie. If you're having those nightmares again because you're back here then maybe we can-"

"Alfred."

Matthew snapped.

"It was just this one time. I'm over it." He said and moved Alfred to the side so he could stand up.

The shorter blonde walked over to his dresser to go put on some pants as he heard the creaking of his bed, telling him that Alfred was sitting on it.

"Y'know, I can talk to Benny at the pharmacy for a refill on those-"

Matthew slammed one the drawer to his dress loudly and spun around with a pair of sweatpants in one hand.

"I told you I'm perfectly fine Alfred. In fact, I'm so fine that I'm even taking the job." He blurted out.

"Wait, seriously?" Alfred, said in surprise.

"Yeah, seriously."

 _Fuck..._

* * *

 _ **Hello everyone! I'm so sorry it took so long to write this, but school has been keeping me so busy. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter after this one uploaded sooner rather than later! Other than that, thank you for reading and please let me know what you think of the story so far! Happy writing!**_


	4. Chapter 4

Cooking & the Language of Love

~ Chapter Four ~

Add the Flour

By: Ghost-girl-writes

* * *

Matthew dreaded the ringing of his alarm clock.

It took him a moment for his hand to find the off button from under the mound of blankets he was under. Slowly he pulled them off of himself and swung his feet over the edge of the bed, rubbing his eyes. He stood up slowly, yawning and stretching as he hauled himself into his bathroom. Six a.m. was definitely a time of day he hadn't seen in awhile, not since his days at college, and as looked at himself in the mirror, he knew this was not going to be a fun day.

His mind swirled back to conversation that Alfred and he had a few days ago in his bedroom. He had let his mouth get the best of him, and now he had a job at St. Anthony's as the new culinary teacher. Walking over to the shower he turned it on to a hot setting and let the water heat up. He got in when it was warm enough and started washing himself. Matthew stayed under the shower head for a few moments, letting the heat and steam wake him up a bit. The blonde ran both of his hands through his hair and sighed loudly, letting them rest on his shoulders for a moment or two.

He tried his best not to think about the memory he had, it freaked him out too much. Plus, he hadn't had one of those nightmares since the day he left for France to go to college, and when Alfred mentioned the pharmacy he nearly wanted to throw up. Simply the thought of having Alfred watch him make sure he took his pill everyday when they were younger left a horrible taste in the back of his throat.

Eventually, he turned the shower knob off and stepped out from behind the curtain, drying himself off with a towel and then wrapping it around his waist. He blow dried his his hair and walked back into his room to get dress. Matthew threw on a pair of black slacks, a white button up with a grey sweater, since it was starting to get chilly out. Once he found his glasses, he put them on, grabbed his shoes and bag and headed down stairs quietly. Elizaveta wasn't here yet and his mother was still sound asleep in her bedroom downstairs, so he didn't want to wake her up.

The blonde male placed his things by the door and started making himself breakfast. Within a few minutes he had an omelette, toast and a small fruit bowl ready and waiting on the table for himself. He checked his watch as he ate in silence, he had plenty of time to drive to the school and still have time to spare. After he finished he placed everything in sink and started washing the dishes.

Once they were all dried and out away, Matthew headed towards the stairs to go brush his teeth when he heard something down the hall. Quickly he changed directions and knocked on his mother's door. "Mom, are you up?" He asked.

"Oh, come in." Came the soft response.

Matthew took a small breath before pushing the door open. He saw his mother there, wrapped up in one of her shawls, sitting up in her bed. The blonde noticed the book on the floor. "Silly, old me can't seem to grip things like I use to." She laughed softly.

He nodded his head and went over and picked up the book. His mother thanked him and flipped a few pages and smiled softly. "This is my favorite picture of my son, come, come." She waved Matthew over.

Slowly he walked over and peered at the book. She pointed with a shaky hand at a picture of her younger self and a blonde haired boy. Matthew pulled at his sweater's sleeve a bit and nodded his head. "You two look happy." He said.

"Yes, we always were happy together. Alfred was such a trouble maker, but we still loved each other." She said as she looked at the scrapbook of photos.

Matthew wanted to tell her that it was him in the photo and not Alfred. Wanted to tell her that she had two sons. That he was her son. He wanted to, but instead excused himself and went to the door. "Elizaveta should be here soon, I'll be leaving now." He said and closed the door half way as he went to go finish getting ready.

Soon enough, Matthew was in his car, driving towards town, and towards the school. As he pulled into the parking lot and got out of his vehicle, his phone started buzzing in his pocket. Closing the car door, he fished it out of his pocket and saw that it was Alfred. He answered it as he started walking towards the front doors.

"Hey, Mattie."

"Hey, Alfie."

"You at the school already?"

"Yeah, just walked in." Matthew said as he walked into the lobby.

"That's good..." Alfred's voice trailed off on the other end of the line.

"What's wrong? You're usually a chipmunk on caffeine in the morning." Matthew teased as he walked down the hallways and towards his room.

He heard Alfred sigh and the two of them were quiet for a moment.

"About the other day, with the dream-"

"Alfred, this isn't the time to talk about it. If you're really that concerned then...then we can talk about it later. Just not know." Matthew said as he made a turn down one of the other hallways.

"Okay, okay. Someone must've woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"Har, har, har. Don't you have a sport to teach?"

"Don't you have to go make some cookies or something?"

"Funny Al, real funny." Matthew said, with a slight smile on his face as he got his keys to his room out and opened the door.

"I'll be able to stop by the house after practice so we can talk, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah." Matthew said, and the two brothers hung up the phone.

Matthew flicked on the switch and watched the lights twinkle before staying on. He went over to his desk and placed his bag down on it and sat in the chair. The blonde opened up the bag and pulled out a few folders. He had gotten his attendance sheets not too long ago and wanted to learn as many names as possible before his first class. Since there weren't too many students in each of his classes, it was a rather easy task.

After arranging all the files on his desk, he stood up and walked over to the chalkboard behind him. Picking up a piece he wrote in cursive 'Mr. Williams' and underneath it 'Intro to culinary arts' and placed it down. Again, he checked his watch for the time, to see that it read 7:20 a.m. and classes didn't start for another ten minutes. He occupied himself with running over what he was going to have his students do on their first day of class when he heard a knocking at his door. Perplexed, he stood up, only to see the door be pushed open.

"Good morning Mr. Williams." Came the heavily accented voice.

"Good morning, Mr. Bonnefoy." Matthew said, a relieved smile gracing his lips and stood in front of his desk.

"I just wanted to stop by and wish you luck on your first day, and that if you needed anything, the other teachers in the hall wouldn't mind helping." He said as he walked over to him, sitting down on one of the stools near the oversized stations.

"Thank you very much, I appreciate it." Matthew said.

"Will you be going to mass this morning?" Francis asked him.

"Oh no, I-ah, got some things I need to sort out and all." He said and gestured to the files over his shoulder and on the desk.

"Ah, I see." Francis said, yawning slightly.

"I normally go myself, but today I'm much too tired. Wouldn't want to fall asleep." He chuckled softly, "I remember getting swatted in the back of the head by one of the Fathers." He explained to him.

"I see, well it seems I'll be missing mass frequently then." Matthew told him, his smiling dropping ever so slightly.

"Well, I won't keep you from your work any longer then." Francis said as he stood up, " See you later then."

"See you later."

Matthew watched as Francis smiled at him and left the classroom, closing the door after him. After he had left, he let out a big sigh and wandered back to his seat. As he sat down, the bell rang through the whole school...well it was more of a chime than a regular school bell. He heard the shuffling and voices of students coming up and down the halls as he stayed where he was and opened up one of the files on his desk.

He looked up when he heard his door open again and saw a few girls that were wearing the school issued dresses come in and take a few seats up front. There were only two boys in his first period class of twelve students. After a few minutes the bell rang again and most of his students were already in their seats. "Does anyone know where Josh and Emily are?" He asked after doubling checking his attendance sheet.

"They're at mass. It doesn't get out for another twenty minutes or so." One of the girls up front said.

"Right, thank you, Veronica, correct?"

The young girl nodded her head.

"Alright, let's get started then. I guess I'll tell you all a little bit about myself, and we'll go around, sound good?" Matthew asked the class, who replied with a 'yes' or 'yeah'.

"Well, I'm Mr. Williams, and I'll be your culinary arts teacher for the next semester. I grew up around here, and then went to France for college and studied there for a while. I spent time in a few other European countries and just recently moved back to the states." He told the class.

Some of the students seemed very interested in what he was saying and Matthew felt a little proud that his students wanted to listen to him. After he spoke, he asked the first row and so on to tell the room about themselves. A lot of them seemed to like the same activities like him, cooking, other reading and watching tv mostly.

Once introduction were done, Matthew went back over to his desk and took a stack of papers from it. "Since you all will be dealing with some potentially dangerous equipment, like the oven and stove, I'm going to need your parents or guardians to sign this form, acknowledging that you all are taking this class and are aware of the risks." He said and handed the papers out.

"We won't be using anything like that today though," he informed them, "for today, we'll just go over some basic information you all need to know about cooking." He told them.

Matthew went on and talked about the different kinds of instruments used to cook certain dishes. He talked for a while, until he heard the door open up again and the missing students entering. The blonde teacher introduced himself and told the students to catch them up on what he was talking about.

So far, so good. Nobody seemed completely bored out of their tree and none of them seemed rude or bad students. After a good while of explaining different aspects of cookies no and the class in general, he decided to have a short break towards the end of the period. The blonde checked his watch and saw that there were ten minutes left in the period and leaned back on top of his desk, and flooded his arms across his chest. "Well, class is almost over, and it wouldn't be fair to start something new. I wouldn't give you any homework tonight, but I'd like you all to think about some of your favorite dishes for class tomorrow." He told them.

He let the kids talk for the rest of class and went over to sit in his chair. "Mr. Williams?" He heard one of the girls call his name.

"Yes?"

"What's France like?"

"Oh, well it's a beautiful place. I don't think I would've gotten the chance to go if it wasn't for my love of cooking."

"What about sports? Did you play any?"

"Yes, I played hockey for a time."

The class suddenly seemed very interested in his personal life and two of the girls in front fired question after question that he barely had time to think of an answer for the other one. Matthew went to open his mouth to respond to one of them, but the bell chimed just as he got the first syllable out.

"Ah, well, have a nice rest of the day." He called out to the students as they got up and left.

* * *

Throughout his classes, Matthew had a rather fun time talking to the students and was enjoying himself. By the time the last bell of the school day rang, he was a bit sluggish, but nonetheless happy that his first day went relatively smooth.

He decided to wait until most of the students and faculty left so that he wouldn't be sitting in traffic. So, he busied himself with a book he brought, stashed in his bag. Matthew was a few pages in when the door opened. The teacher expected a student, most likely forgetting a book or bag, but instead, Francis popped in with a rather extravagant looking gift basket in hand.

"Mr. Bonnefoy."

"Mr. Williams." The French teacher said with a big smile.

"Ah is that..."

"For you? Yes it is. All the teacher put in a little gift for when we receive a new faculty member. They did the same for me when I arrived." France said and came over to the desk to place it down in front of him.

"All of this look amazing." Matthew said, a bit star struck. "I'll have to thank all of them when I get the chance to meet them."

"Mh," Francis hummed, as he tugged at one of the ribbons of the bag, "I had to hide this beauty in the back. Didn't want anyone getting any ideas." He said as he pulled out a bottle of red wine.

Matthew took the bottle that was handed to him, his eyes roaming the dark, red container. "Francis, this is...this is amazing. Really you didn't have to get me something this expensive, but thank you so much." He told him as he looked up.

"Nonsense, I had a hunch you'd like that brand."

"I do, very much so actually."

"Wonderful." He said with a smile.

Matthew smiled back softly and placed the bottle on the table gently. "So, what's making you stay after?" He asked after a moment of silence.

"Homework to grade. I prefer getting all my work done before I go home, no worries and it's just me and a nice home cooked meal." Francis sighed blissfully.

Matthew couldn't help himself but laugh a little. "Sounds nice."

"And what about you?"

"Me? Well um," Matthew chewed at his lower lip for a moment, "my brother is coming over tonight. I'll probably make us some dinner...check up on my mother, and sleep." He told him. "Not much relaxing at place." He added.

"Oh, I didn't know you had a brother? Younger or older?"

"He's my twin, actually. He likes to make it known that he was fifteen minutes older than me whenever he could as a kid." Matthew told him.

"Ah, I see." Francis said as he smiled at Matthew.

"Matthew, may I ask you a question?" Francis said, the younger blonde taking note of the serious tone behind his voice.

"Yeah."

"Do you believe in God?"

"..."

Francis and Matthew stared at each other for what seemed like forever, before Matthew lowered his gaze to the book on his desk. His fingers drummed softly against the wooden desk before opening his mouth and slowly it quickly afterwards. The question caught him off guard and didn't really know how to respond.

"I," Matthew cleared his throat, "I use to believe in him." Matthew whispered softly under his breath.

Francis nodded his head, and suddenly seem to hold a look of sympathy in his eyes. "Don't not fret over that," he told him. "Many teachers here feel that way. I just wanted to ask because of your first day here. You seemed on edge about some of the religious symbols." He said.

"Was it that obvious?"

"No, it took me a while to see that."

"Ah..."

"I didn't mean to put you in a bad mood-"

"No, no you didn't, really. I'm just a bit tired from the day I guess."

"Ah yes, children can be tiring indeed."

Matthew nodded his head in agreement. "Well, I'll leave you to yourself. See you tomorrow." Francis said as he stood up and headed towards the door.

"See you tomorrow." Matthew called back.

"Ah, if you ever have some free time," Matthew said, just as Francis had the door open and the blonde male turned around, "I could probably use some help drinking this bottle."

Matthew saw a tiny twinkle in Francis's blue eyes. "Well, Matthew, I'd be more than happy to share a glass with you." He said, winked, and walked out of the room.

He felt heat pool into his cheeks and straighten up in his seat. The younger male was rather happy spending time with Francis. As he checked the time, he thought that most of the school would have left by now and started packing his things up. Matthew packed his book and things back into the bag and stopped briefly as he looked at his wrist. The white, jagged looking circle on his wrist seemed to stand out for a moment. He paused in his motion and instead reached with his other hand to rub it softly. Matthew let his thoughts wander for a moment before snapping out of his trance and getting the rest of his things into his bag and leaving the school.

* * *

The ride home was silent.

He knew Alfred was probably already home and with his mother and Elizaveta. They were all most likely watching tv together. It made him want to turn the car around. He felt like a stranger in his own home, odd and unwanted.

Even so, Matthew still drove on down the road until the familiar white house appeared in front of him. He got out of the car and walked in through the front door. Matthew heard the TV blaring something about the local news and the weather. Bending forward, he slipped off his shoes and heard Alfred calling out his name. He looked up and saw him coming from the living room, a glass of ice water in his hand.

"Hey..."

"Hey Mattie, how was the first day?"

"It was good." He told him, and saw Alfred looking at the gift basket he had with him.

"Oh, it's a welcoming gift from the other teachers." Matthew told him.

"Neat," he said and ran his fingers through his hair, "sooo ah-"

"I know, you want to talk."

"If we can?"

"Sure." Matthew said in a defeated tone, "Just let me put some things away and we can talk."

The shorter blonde grabbed his things and headed up the stairs. He caught a glimpse of Elizaveta and his mother sitting on the couch together, but quickly looked away and went to his room. Matthew placed his bag on his bed and the gift on his dresser for later. He took off his sweater and dress shirt, replacing them both for a sweatshirt and heading back downstairs.

Matthew found his brother sitting at the kitchen table, drinking from the glass of water. The shorter male settled himself across from and folded his hands on top of the table. "Alright, let's talk." Matthew said, wanting to hurry it up and get this over with.

"Matthew...don't give me that. You know I care about you."

"Then you wouldn't put me on the pills."

"Mattie, if you're having some kind of relapse, I don't want it to happen in a place I can't get to you." Alfred said as he reached forward and took hold of Matthew's left hand gently.

"I'm not having a relapse Alfie. Plus, I haven't had that dream again."

"That doesn't matter. You remember what the doctor said? That it could happen any time off of the pills."

"I've been off of them since the day I left for France."

"And you haven't been home in years, your mind might relapse and I don't want to see you like that." Alfred said, as he looked at his brother with sadden eyes.

"I felt like I lost a part of myself seeing you after everything happened, and I told you that I never wanted to see you like that again."

"You won't."

"How will I know? Hm? I can't be here everyday looking after you like I did when we were kids."

"And what? Watch me take my pill everyday in the morning?" Matthew said.

Alfred sighed and slumped back in his seat, pinching the bridge of his nose a bit before looking back at his brother. "Mattie...Matthew, I just don't want something like that to ever happen again. I don't want to see you hurting yourself because that fucking psychotic fucker got into your head again." Alfred said.

Matthew could see his brother clenching his jaw and stayed quiet. "I thought I was going to loose my brother because of him. That fucker never got to feel how you felt. I wanted to end him because I thought just maybe, if he was dead, you could sleep at night, Mattie. That he wouldn't get to you because he wouldn't be here anymore."

"Enough."

Matthew felt his eyes start to tear up. "Just stop it."

"Mattie-"

"I'm not some weak and vulnerable little kid anymore."

"I know that, but that still doesn't mean that you're over this. Who knows, something might trigger a bad memory and you relapse into that state again and I might have to take you to the hospital."

Matthew stared at Alfred for a moment and wiped his eyes quickly. He stood up from his seat and went over to the fridge, taking out a bottle of water.

"Mattie?"

"I get it. I really do." He said as he opened up the bottle and took a sip.

"I know you're worried about me, but I'm an adult. I know my limits and I know what I can handle. If I ever think for a second I might need help, I'll tell you, okay?" He told him as he twisted the cap back on.

Alfred got up from his seat and went over to Matthew and hugged him. "Okay, I'm just...I'm just worried about you Mattie."

"I know Alfie."

"I love you."

"I love you too." Matthew said, and moved passed Alfred.

"I'm gonna go get some rest." He told him.

"Alright. I'll probably be gone when you wake up, so g'night."

"Good night."

* * *

Matthew laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling for who knows how long. It was passed seven o'clock, his body conditioned to getting up and being ready at this hour, but he stayed in bed, under the warm blankets. He heard his door open up and footsteps come towards him. Matthew didn't have to look to see it was Alfred.

"Up already?" His brother asked, holding a glass of water in one hand, his other hand clutching something unseen.

"Here, open your mouth." Alfred said as he held out the pill and placed it on Matthew's tongue.

Alfred handed him the glass and watched him drink from it. His older brother then ordered him to open his mouth again, and looked to make sure he had taken his pill. He smiled seeing nothing and placed the glass next to his bed.

"Mom is making pancakes, how many do you want?" He asked him.

"...one."

"Just one? You always eat at least three!"

" 'm not hungry Alfie."

Alfred frowned for a moment. "Well, I'll tell her to make extra encase you change your mind." He said and then left the room, closing the door.

Matthew rolled on his side and looked at his bandaged wrist. His fingers traced the soft wrapping over and over again. He could see some of the scarring the spidered out from under the white wraps. The young child sighed and pulled the covers over his head and tried going back to sleep.

The morning came again and Matthew was getting ready for school. Alfred and him were singing a song in the back seat, some old nursery rhyme. Matthew watched as his mother pulled into their school parking lot and helped them out and wished them a good day.

Matthew followed behind his brother as they walked to class and entered the room. Alfred held Matthew's hand as they took to their seats and class started.

 _Why am I remembering this?_

It was recess in a blink of an eye.

Matthew was watching Alfred play basketball with some of the older kids, running around and jumping for the ball. Instead, the young blonde wandered over to swing set to see a few familiar faces.

As Matthew got closer, he noticed the other kids looking at him and slowly stopped talking. "Hi." Matthew said as he stopped in front of him.

The kids all looked at each other and then back at Matthew, a boy spoke up after a moment. "My momma said we can't play together anymore." He told him.

"Why?" Matthew said, his hurt feelings obviously showing on his face.

"Momma said that something's wrong with you, so we can't play."

"But...but there's nothing wrong with me!" Matthew said as he looked at some of the other kids.

"My daddy said that you put Father Julius in prison cause you aren't a good person."

"I-I am a good person!"

"Nu-uh, my momma said that you didn't like Father Julius so you lied!"

Matthew took a step back and held his wrist with his hand, slowly rubbing it.

"I didn't lie!" Matthew said.

"My dad said that since you don't have one, that's why you got hurt, and that you blamed it on Father Julius." A girl said.

"That's not true! That's a lie! Father Julius hurt me! Father Julius is a bad man!"

" _Liar_!"

* * *

Matthew gasped as he woke up, shooting upright in his bed. He grabbed for his water bottle on the side table and quickly downed most of it. Wiping his mouth he sat there for a moment breathing heavily.

The blonde felt like he was sweating and swiped his forehead with his hand. After a moment, he realized his hands felt wet, too wet to be from just the water bottle. So, Matthew stood up slowly and dragged himself into his bathroom and flicked on the lights to get a better look at his hands, or at least dry them off.

Matthew looked down at his hands and felt his heart nearly stop.

His nails on his right hand were stained with blood, and his wrist was bleeding, droplets running down his arm. Matthew started to feel his body shaking and quickly grabbed a towel and pressed it against his wrist.

"No, no, no..."

He stood there for a while holding his hand and shaking. Soon, Matthew legs felt like they were going to give out and sank down against the wall.

The young male removed the towel to look at his wrist, seeing that it was staining it and the scratch marks on his skin. "Please no..." He whispered to himself.

"Please God, not _again_..."

* * *

 **A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you all are enjoying the story so far! I'd really appreciate it if you guys commented/reviewed about what you like or what you don't! Constructive criticism is always welcomed! Happy writing!**


	5. Chapter 5

Cooking & the Language of Love

~Chapter five~

Measure the liquid

By: Ghost-girl-writes

* * *

 _Six_.

Six times he's woken up from a nightmare and found his wrist bloody and sore next to him.

Six times he had rewrapped it in gauzes with shaky hands because his hand had scratched it clean off.

Six times he had to lie to his students and Elizaveta when they saw the bandaged wrist.

But he was lucky.

Lucky that Alfred hadn't stopped by for a while. They had talked on the phone recently and had spoken about a big game against their rivals coming up soon, and wanted the students to be more than ready for it. Matthew was happy Alfred trusted his words enough to take them as the truth, but each time he hung up the phone, a cloud of guilt hung over his head for a while.

He knew he should tell Alfred, but that would put way too much stress on him, especially at a time like this. Their mother is sick and dying, a big game is coming up, work, life in general, and now he'd have to worry about his younger brother slowly slipping back into a dangerous mind set? No, he couldn't do that to Alfred.

Instead, Matthew glanced down at his wrist as the bell chimed through the school for the third time that day. This was his prep period and for a moment, wondered if he should just take a quick nap in the teacher's lounge, when a knock came to the door. He looked up to see the familiar blonde haired Frenchman standing there with that beautiful white smile, that made his own lips curl ever so slightly upwards upon seeing the man. "And how are things today, Mr. Williams?" He asked, taking his usual seat in the center front row.

"Fine, well, Victor spilt flour onto the floor second period. I think I still see clouds of it hovering around." Matthew commented as he glanced at the cleaning supplies in the corner of the room.

"Yes, yes, kids can be a handful at times." Francis said, leaning forward and resting his chin on his palm.

He was glad for moments like this, and thought that it was nice that the two of them had the same prep period time. The two of them normally talked about simple things, or how the students are and other faculty members. Matthew had found out that Francis wanted to be an art teacher during one of these conversations, but couldn't find any schools that were open to it, but when he talked about it, he saw his deep blue eyes spark up like electricity was running through them.

The two blondes talked for a while, when Francis cleared his throat, causing Matthew to raise an eyebrow at the taller male. "Well, Matthew, seeing how it's Friday, and many of the teachers will be trying to get out early, what do you say to getting a bite to eat together?" He asked him.

For a split second, Matthew thought he saw something else in those blue eyes that were now focusing on him. The shorter male scrambled for a second and asked Francis to hang on just a moment, as he pulled his bag onto his lap and retrieved a small, black planner. Quickly flipping it open and reading his notes, he of course heard the slight chuckle from Francis at his little habit of keeping notes down. Though he said it was to keep his life organized, it was more so a way of avoiding.

Matthew had the times of when Alfred had mentioned he would stop by the house, when Elizaveta was over, so that he could stay out later before having to come home to take care of his mother who thought of him as any other stranger. He looked at today's spot and saw that Elizaveta was due to stay until 11 p.m. this evening. Matthew closed it and shoved it back in his bag. "Seeing as how I'm free this evening, I don't see why not? Do you have anything in mind?" Matthew asked him.

He saw the gears working in Francis's head before he straightened his back out in his seat. "There's this little Italian restaurant in the next town over. It has a wonderful menu, that I'm sure you'll love." He said with a dashing smile and stood up from his seat.

"Well, I trust your taste, so what time should we meet up?" Matthew asked, standing up as well and adjusting the sweater sleeve on his left arm.

"I thought it would be easier if I drive us, saves gas, don't you think?" Francis said.

"Oh well I-I guess, but my place is a bit out of the way to drive to." Matthew stuttered slightly.

"Well, if that's the case, I'm sure we can find a way to occupy ourselves here." Francis suggested and took a glance at Matthew's wrist.

"It's a bit of a drive, so I would say we leave by four o'clock." He added as he checked the time on his watch.

Their prep period was almost over and the bell would be ringing around them once again.

"Four sounds good." Matthew said softly.

"Good. Ah, Matthew I hope you don't mind me asking," Francis started as he gestured to his hand, "but may I ask what happened?"

"Oh!" Matthew hesitated the slightest and grabbed his wrist softly with his other hand.

"Making soup and trying to juggle a phone call with your enthusiastic, older brother was a bit too much for me apparently." Matthew told him with a slight laugh. "Completely forgot about the damn stove and my wrist grazed it." He said to the blonde male.

Francis nodded his head and the two of them said their goodbyes, as they normally did, and Matthew went back to sitting down in his chair. Looking back down at the wrapped wrist, his fingers trailed down to his skin but stopped mid way. Instead, his mind started to fill up with the possibilities of later today with Francis. He wondered if Francis was just as excited to go as he was, though he kept his exterior calm, he was thrilled to actually go out with Francis. Well, go out to eat.

Soon enough, his lovely day dreams of gourmet foods and the Frenchman came to a haunted as the school bell rang in his ears. His class was filled with his next period students within a few minutes, and then the next he was getting up to start class and teaching them.

* * *

"Now, this weekend for homework, I'd like everyone to research a different country and come in with a few of the foods that you're interested in making for next week's class." Matthew said as the period came close to an end.

He let the student chit chat for the next few minutes and walked over to his chalk board to erase the notes he had jotted down for his students to take. Matthew hummed softly as the writing was erased and placed the tool back down on the little shelf before turning around. His eyes blinked once...twice.

His students had turned around in their seats to stare at the door and we're all quieted down. Matthew looked over at the door and saw a largely built male standing there with a book pressed against his chest. If it wasn't for the long, cream colored scarf around his neck, the man would've seemed like a stranger to the blonde.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Williams." The man said as he walked into the classroom and towards the desk.

"Ivan! It's so good to see you again!" Matthew said as he walked around he the desk.

The two of them smiled at each other. While Matthew was still in high school, Ivan had followed around his older sister Katyusha like a shadows, on occasions, he'd come and hang out with the two of them. Though, despite Ivan being Katyusha's little brother, Ivan was still older than the blonde male. Since the two moved late in their lives to the states, the school system stuck them in younger classes so that they could learn English at an easier pace.

Though, as they greeted each other, he did notice how the children stared in awe at the two of them talking, wondering why. Before anything could be done about it, the lunch bell rang and his student quickly scurried out of the room.

"It seem some students here take me as the big bad wolf." Ivan said after the last student left the room.

Matthew shook his head and smiled softly. "Well, I was pretty scared of you the first time we met, remember?" Matthew said as he went over to his desk again and pulled out a lunch bag.

"Da, I remember." Ivan mused, "And you are still tiny, after all these years." He added.

"Well, I have grown a few inches since we last saw each other." Matthew told him as he placed the bag down on his desk.

"You won't be eating lunch with the other teachers?" Ivan asked him, seeing the short, thin male's lunch.

"Ah, well-"

"When Katyusha told me you were a teacher here, I thought she was lying at first." Ivan cut in.

Matthew closed his mouth and noticed how the Russian's big eyes seem to soften.

"There are still times after all these years, I have nightmares too. About my home country and my sister." Ivan started, his eyes glancing down at the book in his hands.

"When you told me the story, about what happen to you, what Alfred had said to me when I asked him, I would've thought a place like this would seem like hell." Ivan said, looking back up at Matthew, who had placed his right hand on his desk.

"Sometimes it is." Matthew said softly.

"If you want, we can talk?" Ivan offered.

"I'm fine Ivan, really." He told him.

Matthew heard Ivan sigh where he stood, and switch the book in his hand from one to another. "I'm not as easily fooled as some others are, Matthew." Ivan said as he looked at Matthew's wrist, to which the blonde hid behind his back.

"You have people who care about you." Ivan added.

"Then you should know why I can't say anything about it."

Ivan paused for a moment. He understood what the other meant and nodded his head. "Alright."

He told him, "You know where to find me if you need anything." He added.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

A voice came from behind the two teachers, causing the shorter one to jump in his spot.

Francis stood there, a curious look on his face as he looked at the two males. For a moment, Matthew flashed an expression on panic that the taller blonde might have heard something but quickly willed the thought away.

"No, I was just leaving;" Ivan said, wishing Matthew a good day before leaving the room.

Francis walked back over to Matthew's desk and looked at the other carefully.

"I hope Ivan didn't scare you, did he?" The Frenchman asked.

"Oh, no, Ivan doesn't scare me." Matthew said with a smile.

"Really? He scares me sometimes. He likes to pop out of places." Francis said as he took a seat on the corner top of Matthew's desk.

Matthew laughed, "He does do that sometimes." He told him, "When we went to high school, he had a reputation of being a badass, but really, he wouldn't hurt a fly."

Francis hummed as Matthew spoke.

"Are you going to go eat lunch?" Matthew asked, noticing Francis's empty hands.

"Already did." He said and looked down at Matthew's own lunch.

"I see you've cooked yourself a feast as always." He teased, which had Matthew smiling.

Matthew looked down at the food he had made early this morning. "I guess," he said, chewing at his lower lip, hiding secrets from people always caused stress, and when Matthew was stress he cooked...a lot.

"Is something the matter?" Francis asked, noticing Matthew trailing off a bit.

"Oh, yes, I'm fine." Matthew told him as he looked up.

"I just don't think I'll be able to eat this all." He said to Francis and looked down at the sandwich, salad, and sides.

He saw Francis smile...or was he smirking and picked up a black olive that Matthew had out in his salad and ate it slowly.

"Delicious as always." Francis hummed and Matthew blushed.

"I keep telling you I don't mind making a lunch for you. I have nothing better to do with my free time." Matthew said as he took a small bite from his sandwich.

"Having you as my personal chef, you tempt me." Francis spoke, his voice suddenly low.

And Matthew noticed it. They had been doing this for a while now, he wasn't blind. Francis always came to his classroom when he had free time. They had normal conversation, but sometimes they'd take a turn. Francis would tease him, and Matthew would let him. Or they'd talk about something and Francis would turn it into a conversation about Matthew, how lovely his hair look today, or how nice he looked. On one or two occasions, they've even brushed hands. It was simple, and sudden. Sometimes it was in the hallways, or when they were alone like they were now.

Once while Matthew was trying to put one of the heavy pots away on a shelf, Francis had swooped in behind him and helped him. The Frenchman then helped himself and placed his hands on Matthew's hips for a moment, to make sure the other was steady on his feet...or so he said.

Matthew didn't mind it, the attention, dare he call it flirting. It had been a while since he had gotten some action in the bedroom, but now, with his current situation, he didn't think he was getting into anyone's bed soon.

The blonde cook was pulled from his wandering thoughts as that damn bell rang again. Matthew adjusted his glasses higher up on his nose as Francis slowly got off of the desk and smiled at Matthew. "See you in a bit then."

"Yes, goodbye."

Francis walked out of the classroom, but Matthew knew that it wouldn't be long until he was back in it, waiting for him.

* * *

When the time did come for the final bell, he was relieved that he didn't have hear that ringing for a good two days. He wished his class a good weekend as they all got up to leave and Matthew let out a big sigh. The blonde went over to the big sink basin in the room and decided to tidy up the room before Francis came to get him. The other had mentioned something about staying after to help some students, so he busied himself a bit.

Matthew washed some of the pots, pans and other utensils that were left in their during the day. After he had put them away, he felt a sharp pain in his wrist. The blonde clenched it softly with his other hand for a moment, feeling the pain gradually go away. However, when he removed his hand he saw the white bandage start to turn a soft red.

"Damn." Matthew said under his breath.

The skin reopened, but Matthew was glad that he had brought extra wrapping in his bag and quickly took off the old one. Matthew's skin was a harsh pink, standing out against his pale skin, and the faded scar had once again come to life on his wrist. Trying not to think about it, Matthew rewrapped it snugly around the scar and tugged his sweater sleeve over it and tossed the dirty bandages in the tiny bucket next to his desk.

Not long after, Francis arrived at his door, his hair in a loose ponytail at the base of his neck with a worn look on his face.

"Never, would I thought that my students would need so much help in their lives!" He said, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead in a dramatic pose.

"Children's curiosity will never be quenched." He added, glancing at Matthew.

"Oh my, the horror of it all." Matthew said, laughing.

"Indeed, but I have dealt with the torment, to finally have my reward." Francis said with a slight wag of his eyebrows that made Matthew's cheeks flare up.

"Oh? And what reward would that be?" He asked as Francis came over to his desk.

"A dinner, with the most splendid being in this town." He said to Matthew, placing the bag that he was carrying in his hand, down on the table and took Matthew's right hand in his.

"Well then, you better go find him before he leaves." Matthew teased him.

"You wound me." Francis smiled and placed a playful kiss on Matthew's hand.

"You should've been a drama teacher." The shorter blonde said as he took his hand back and started to gather his things.

The two of them laughed together, and finally walked out of the school towards Francis' car. It was a two door, red sport car, which made Matthew wounded how xactly Francis had gotten the car. Regardless, his stomach was growling at him, and he couldn't wait to eat with him. After buckling up, Francis pulled out of the parking lot and drove on towards the next town.

It was at that moment that Matthew's nerves caught up with him. Alone in a car with a rather highly attractive male, who was taking him out to eat. His right hand started drumming his fingers on his leg, which Francis noticed as he drove along the street. "If you want, you can turn on the radio." Francis offered so that they weren't in total silence.

"Oh right, yes." Matthew stumbled and pressed the radio on, turning it on a random station.

With the music as background noise, it made Matthew a little less nervous. Within the hour, Francis had drove them across county lines and into the lot of a fancy looking restaurant. The two of them got out of the car together, leaving their bags in the car and walking over to the door. Once inside, a young brunette greeted them and asked them to follow her. Matthew glanced at Francis as he followed her to a table in the center of the place. A fine white cloth covered the table, along with expensive utensils laid out in front of them, all neatly lined up.

After they were seated and given menus they placed their drink orders and the waitress left them to themselves. "Well, this is rather nice." Matthew said as he opened up the menu.

"Indeed. Their pasta dishes are to die for here." Francis said as he did the same with his menu.

"Then I must have one." Matthew replied.

They gazed over the menu for a while, and Francis noticed Matthew place his flat down on the table. The younger blonde cleared his throat to get Francis's attention. "Um, Francis? Do you...do you think we should be doing, well, this?" He asked him, glancing up at the Frenchman.

"You mean eating out together?"

"No...the um, the ah-"

"Me flirting with you?"

"Oh-well I ah..." Matthew stumbled over his words, he didn't think Francis would be so upfront about it.

Francis placed his menu down on the table, resting his elbows on the fine cloth and lacing his fingers together. "I'm not the one to deny myself something I want, Matthew." Francis started.

Matthew watched as the other blonde rested his chin on his fingers. The young chef wasn't going to lie, the look that Francis was giving him made him slightly hot and bothered. "That is, if you want me as well." Francis said, only to have Matthew continue to stare at him with blinking round eyes.

"I can understand your concern, about the school possibly finding out, but I can assure you they won't mind. It won't affect anything, so long as any difficulties stay outside of school grounds." Francis said.

"It sounds like you know a lot about dating co-workers." Matthew said.

"Guilty as charged." Francis said, stopping as the waitress came with their drinks. "But then again, you flirt right back with me, no?" Francis raised an eyebrow as he raised his glass to his lips, taking a sip of the red wine.

Matthew rubbed the back of his neck softly and darted his gaze away from the other at the table. "Well, I'll be the first to admit, the attention is...nice. But it's strange as well, I've never had an office romance...if you can even call this at this point." Matthew tried explaining, God was he rusty.

"I'd call it the first steps to falling in love." Francis said, placing his glass down in front of him.

Matthew hummed softly a response and picked up his own glass of wine and took a sip.

"If you like the attention, and I surely love giving it to someone like you, I won't mind giving you a bit more, if you want. I may be a flirt, but consent is more important than anything, hell, it's even sexy when your lover gives you the okay to do something," Francis then lowered his voice, "especially in the bedroom."

Matthew knew his face was blushing a bright red, quickly taking a slightly bigger sip of wine. "Please tell me if I'm wrong, but are you...are you asking me out? As in dating?" Matthew asked him shyly, his right fingers playing and circling the rim of his glass.

"Yes I am, but if you don't feel the same, I won't push myself on you." Francis told him.

"I'm afraid you already do that when I need help putting something away." Matthew said, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Is that a yes?" Francis asked, blue eyes looking at him intensely.

Matthew simply nodded his head, with a bright smile. He saw Francis do the same and reached across the table to take Matthew's left hand in his. "I'm glad. You certainly are a wonderful human being Matthew." He told him.

The shorter blonde felt like he was back in high school. He felt all giddy, like a schoolgirl who's crush just so happened to say 'hi' to them in the hallway. Man, did he really need to brush up on his relationship skills, especially with someone like Francis, who seemed like the kind of person to have anyone on their knees.

"You're not too bad yourself." Matthew teased and the both of the, laughed softly.

Minutes ticked by and eventually they ordered and received their plates of food in front of them. Matthew had ordered one of the pasta dishes, and Francis a sirloin steak. The younger blonde took a small forkful of the pasta, tasting it, and it was absolutely delicious. After a few more bites of it, Francis asked if he liked the food, and Matthew told him that it was some of the best he'd ever had. Which Francis was very pleased with.

For the rest of that evening, the two of them chatted and laughed as they ate the tasteful food, clinking their glasses together and watched the rich, red liquid swirl in its container. The atmosphere was practically erased with the beginnings awkwardness and worry, and it was rather calming now...almost comfortable even.

Matthew picked up his glass, swirling it gently in his hand but his eyes suddenly shot lower as he noticed the bandage around his hand had peeled off slightly.

* * *

"Matthew! Alfred! What in heaven's name _happened_ to you two!?" Their mother had yelled at them as she walked into the principle's office.

The two young boys were sitting side by side in the two red chairs in the office, each brother hold the other's hand. Alfred had the start of a black eye a his lip was bleeding as Matthew sat next to him, still sobbing and shaking.

Their mother looked at the principal as he started to explain what had happened but cut the man off. "Enough." She snapped and went over to pick up Matthew, who curled up in her arms, shivering.

"Expect a report from my lawyer." She said as she walked out, calling for Alfred, who grabbed onto her free hand and left the office and school grounds.

Matthew's mother buckled them up in the back seat and got in the car and drove away from the school, back towards their house. It was a few minutes before their mother spoke to them. "Alfred, sweetie," their mother said as she looked at them through the rearview mirror above her, "can you tell me what happen?" She asked in a soft voice.

Alfred and Matthew had gone back to holding hand, but Alfred nodded his head and spoke up, his voice a bit shaky. "I was playing on the court and Mattie came over crying. He said that the kids from Sunday school called him a liar! And he's not a liar mom!" He said, to which his mother nodded.

"So, I went over and told them they were wrong! They said that Matthew was lying about what Father Julius had did to Matthew!" Alfred told his mother, and upon hearing the name, Matthew flinched beside his brother.

"They kept calling Mattie mean things so I...so I just..." Alfred trailed off. "They wouldn't stop and Mattie was crying and I asked them momma! I asked them stop but they didn't so I had to!" Alfred said, his own tears brimming around his eyes.

Their mother nodded her head and didn't say anything until the finally got home. She carried Matthew into the house and settled him down on the couch, wrapping a blanket around him. His mother instructed Alfred to sit next to Matthew as she sat down gently on the coffee table.

She looked sad, defeated almost as she looked at her hands, and then at her two sons. "I need to tell you something very important, it's even more important that you understand what I'm about to say to you, okay?" She said softly and slowly.

The two brothers nodded their heads. "Father Julius isn't going to jail." She said, to which she had to stop Alfred from going on a tangent.

"Father Julius, is being moved to a different church in a different county. It was the next best thing we could do for you Matthew. The bishop pulled some strings and was able to grant Father Julius the right to not be imprisoned. The church said that we didn't have enough evidence...enough facts to prove Father Julius had hurt Matthew." His mother said.

Alfred was sitting there in a pool of his own anger and Matthew just sat there, staring blankly at his mother who looked helpless. "Momma.." Matthew said, causing their mother to pick her head up, "am I a bad person?" He asked.

His mother was in shock, and quickly kneeled in front of Matthew. "Matthew, look at me," she said, "you are not a bad person. Father Julius is the one who's bad, he is, not you. The church doesn't want something like this going to the press, it'll make the church look bad, but the bishop was willing to do more bad things to cover up for Father Julius...Mattie, Alfred, you understand what I'm saying, right?" She asked her sons, to which they both nodded their heads.

"Okay...okay," she said and stood up, brushing her hands against her dress as she did so, "I'm going to make some hot chocolate for you two." She told them and left the room.

Alfred kept holding his hand in silence and saw his brother looking at him, but kept his gaze down on the ground. His mind was reeling with thoughts and memories, swirling around, chasing each other in his head. It made him feel dizzy.

Suddenly, Matthew let go of Alfred's hand and covered his left wrist with it, tearing off the bandages and reveal the stitches in his skin. "Mattie?" Alfred said, but his brother still refused to look at him.

"Mattie, what are you-"

He was a liar to all of them. A no good liar, attention seeker, he was bad...bad to them. When they looked at him they saw nothing but lies and hatred. He wasn't the special student that Father Julius called him...he wasn't special, he didn't want to be special, how could he when he was a liar?

His fingers twitched above the skin for a second before them came across his skin and pulled at the stitches. Alfred looked at his brother in stunned horror and yelled-

" _Momma!_ "

* * *

"Matthew?"

Matthew looked up as Francis called his name. "Are you feeling well?" Francis asked him, a worried look in his eyes.

"Oh yes, fine, thank you." He said and gave him a weak smile.

The younger blonde had finished most of the food on his plate and soon enough, the check came and they were out the door. It was pitch black outside as the two of them walked back to Francis's car. They got in and Francis started driving back to their home town. The two of them talked about wonderful the food was, and how much of a good time they each had. "If you ever, want to go out again, then give me a call." He said, taking his cellphone from his pocket and handed it to Matthew.

Matthew took his own phone out and typed in Francis's number into his phone and handed it back. "I'd like that very much." He told him with a small smile.

Francis drove back into the school parking lot, where Matthew's car waited for him towards the back. The Frenchman parked next to it and got out just as Matthew did. As the shorter blonde gathered his things, Francis came around to his side and closed his door for him.

"Thank you for tonight Francis, I really had a wonderful time with you." Matthew said, hugging his bag to his chest as he said it.

"As did I."

There was a pause between the two of them, as they looked up at each other. Francis's hand came up and caressed Matthew's cheek gently, still staring at him with those beautiful eyes. His other hand slowly went to Matthew's waist and pulled him close until their chest touched each other.

Matthew's heart skipped a few beats and then closed his eyes as Francis leaned forward and pressed his lips against his. For a moment, he thought it was a sweet ' _Goodnight kiss_ ', but was Matthew wrong about that. It was heated, needy almost and Matthew felt the same in that moment. His bag clattered to the ground as his hands reached up to tangle themselves in his hair as they kissed. Francis's lips were soft against his, feeling his teeth graze his bottom lip and then nipping at it before pulling away, only to kiss and nip at his neck.

The younger blonde felt his heart leap in his chest as he felt Francis lips on his slowly heating skin. He felt his lips suck at the skin and let his head fall back, giving out a loud sigh of pleasure.

Who knew making out with your attractive, male co-worker in a Catholic school's parking lot could feel so right?

* * *

 ** _A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! As always, please leave comments/reviews on what you liked or didn't like about it! Or any other thoughts about the story you have! im always looking for ways to improve my writing, so anything that you think might help, just message me! As always, happy writing!_**


	6. Chapter 6

Cooking & the Language of Love

Chapter six

~Too much sugar~

By: Ghost-girl-writes

* * *

"Well aren't you chipper this morning?"

Matthew turned around as Elizaveta came walking into the kitchen. He had been washing some of the vegetables for tonight's dinner, placing the sharp knife he was using to cut them with, down on the counter. "And what makes you say that?" He asked her, wiping his hands on the white apron wrapped around his waist.

"You aren't as moody anymore, though you still have your moments." She said with a small smile as she came over to the counter, looking at the neatly chopped veggies.

"Y'know, my mother always thought that I would never find a husband, since I apparently couldn't even make a salad correctly." Elizaveta said to him as he watched Matthew take a freshly washed carrot and place it on the chopping board.

"Don't say that, I'm sure your salads are wonderful." Matthew said as he glanced over at her for a moment before picking the knife back up to start chopping up the carrot.

Elizaveta hummed to herself and stood back and watched Matthew slice the carrot from one end to another with an almost eerie accuracy. The long, brunette was very impressed by his skill, to say the least.

The green eyed girl went to open her mouth, when Matthew's mother started laughing at something on the tv. She noticed out of the corner of her eye that Matthew's hand hesitated over the second carrot for a moment, before going back to chopping. Elizaveta said no more, but instead, gave a small pat on Matthew's thin shoulders before excusing herself to check up on his mother.

Once Elizaveta had left him alone, Matthew slowly placed the knife down next to the chopping board, placing both hands on the edge of the counter, his head hanging low. He let out a soft breath and closed his eyes for a moment. Elizaveta was right, he hadn't been as moody lately, not since that night with night had been splendid.

 _Absolutely splendid_.

He never felt more alive, loved, and just...everything just felt so right when he was with Francis. They had gone out two more times in the past three weeks. It was a bit hard, with their jobs in the way and other personal matters, but at least they could still have lunch together and talk during their prep period. The last date they had gone on was to the cinema, to see some sort of action, romance film. It was nice, something a little bit out of Matthew's taste, but then again he wasn't really paying attention to it, since it was hard when Francis's hand kept rubbing up and down his thigh during it.

The times he spent with Francis felt almost like a dream, one that he didn't want to wake up from. But he had to, and sometimes it was harsh. Being with Francis was nice, amazingly nice, but Matthew still woke up in the dead of night with his heart threaten to explode and his veins screaming at him.

Matthew had to buy more and more gauzes, since he had started running out of them quicker than he had expected. He had the inkling suspicion that Francis may not be buying into the lie that he had told him about it being a burn. But he couldn't tell him, not yet at least.

' _Why would he, why would anyone, want to date a guy that does this kind of thing to himself?_ '

The blonde looked down at the neatly wrapped wrist. For a moment, he felt utterly pathetic. He should be over something like this, not have it linger over him. Matthew didn't want baggage, he didn't want to _be_ baggage.

Letting out a rather shaky sigh, Matthew straighten out his back, took the knife in his hand and went on to finish dinner.

* * *

By the time Matthew had his beef stew ready, he felt drained. Though, he was happy for Elizaveta's help with setting up the table. He was also happy that this night would be rather peaceful. Elizaveta was scheduled to stay late again tonight, so that meant Matthew could go to bed early and pray for a full night's sleep.

Matthew got a ladle and start scooping the stew into one of the three bowls and turned around to place it on the table.

Now, as much as Matthew simply hated math, he wasn't bad at it.

When he placed the bowl down he counted four glasses, four forks, four knives, and napkin and- There was a car honking outside.

Matthew looked over at Elizaveta who smiled, but noticed Matthew's confused expression. "Oh, I completely forgot to tell you, Alfred is coming by for dinner." She said as she went over to go open the door for him.

"But I thought he couldn't come home until tomorrow evening?" He called out to her.

"He called the house phone while you were outside in the shed." She called back as she opened the door.

Matthew sighed, great, just great. Alfred had already witness him in the middle of rather horrible flashback, and now if he saw his wrist...who knows what he'll do or say to Matthew. Instead of panicking, the blonde quickly ridded himself of the apron and tossed it in the small linen closet in the hallway that lead to the backyard. As he walked back towards the front of the house he heard loud shuffling and a patch of short blonde hair poke up from behind a big cardboard box.

He was a bit baffled by the size of the box. Matthew may not be the strongest man on earth, but he could lift heavy objects, but he might as well be lifting up feathers whenever he remembered how strong Alfred was. The younger brother watched Alfred settle it in the corner of the hallway and Elizaveta come up behind him, shutting the door.

As Alfred straighten himself out, he looked over at Matthew and smiled. Matthew did the same as he tugged the sleeves of his shirt over his hands. "Perfect timing." Matthew said as he walked back into the kitchen to finish serving the stew, "Everything is ready." He added, taking another bowl and filling it with the warm broth.

"Can't wait," Alfred said with a long sigh, "seems like forever since I had a home cooked meal." He said and sat himself down at the table.

Elizaveta helped their mother come in and sit down at the head of the table, and Matthew placed a warm bowl in front of her gently. Elizaveta took a seat at the other head of the table, leaving Matthew and Alfred to face each other from across it.

The dinner was nice, even though Matthew thought it would turn out to be a shit show. Alfred went on and on about their big win in football and how big the trophy was, insisting they all see the pictures he took. Matthew laughed at the one he saw of Alfred getting drenched with the giant Gatorade jug and the look of shock on his face.

As they talked and passed Alfred's phone around, their mother spoke about how good the stew was. It made Matthew smile softly and look down at his own bowl, stirring it gently. "It must sound funny coming from someone like me but, I think I remember having this before." His mother said, to which Alfred and Elizaveta looked at each other, then at Matthew.

Matthew was looking at his mother as she had gone back to eating the stew, an unreadable expression on his face. A moment later, he smiled and then went on with his meal. The shorter blonde knew that any more advances he tried to take to see if his mother would remember him was useless. Yet, having her say that gave him a glimmer of hope, and he was happy with just that.

Everyone at the table had practically finished and Elizaveta was helping their mother to her room for the night. Meanwhile, Alfred and Matthew were signed for the clean up job. However much Matthew had insisted on handling it himself, Alfred was as stubborn as a bull, and eventually he caved in. The two stood side by side at the big sink basin and Matthew started with washing the bowls and Alfred dried them and put them away.

"So, how's everything with the school?" Alfred asked him as he placed a bowl in the drying rack beside him, giving his brother a sideways glance.

"Good actually, very good. Francis and I hung out a few times after work, which is nice." Matthew said as he scrubbed a fork clean and passed it to him.

"Oh, and who's Francis?" Alfred said, wagging his eyes at Matthew, to which he rolled his eyes at him.

"The French language teacher. His classroom is right down the hallway from mine." He told him, handing him another washed fork.

"Ah, I see." Alfred hummed as he started drying the utensil.

As they were almost done, Matthew saw as he washing the last bowl, the water turn a bit pinkish. His shoulders stiffen for a moment before continuing cleaning it and passing it to Alfred, hoping that he wouldn't notice. After that, all the dishes were clean and Matthew tugged his sleeve down further, telling Alfred he was going to use the bathroom. Alfred simply called over his shoulder an ' _okay_ ' and went to finish putting everything back.

Matthew tried his best not to spirit up the stairs, as much as he wanted to, but he was able to control himself for the most part. He walked to his room and quickly entered the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He looked down at his stained wrapping and tugged it off. The site of his wrist almost made Matthew gasp. It looked bad. Really _bad_.

His wrist looked like some animal had taken a thin bite out of it and with the wrapping no longer putting pressure on it, it started bleeding. Tossing the dirty wrapping out, he turned the faucet on until it was nice and warm, then Matthew went and got a new, clean package of gauzes and medical wrapping. Matthew let the warm water run over his wrist and saw how much blood was coming out, and wondered if he might need a few stitches.

Regardless, he pulled his hand out and pressed a hand towel to it for a moment before placing it aside and taking the gauze from the package and placing it down on the open skin, now realizing how much it was starting to throb. Matthew had started wrapping it when he heard Alfred's voice from behind his door.

"Hey Mattie, do you know where the all the old movies are? I wanna show Elizaveta some of them." He said as he knocked on the bathroom door.

"Just...just a second." Matthew said shakily.

His hands started to shake and fumble with the medical tape he used to secure the white bandages around him. Matthew's heart was pounding in his ears, and felt like the room was a few hundred degrees too high. His hand wrapped the last bit of bandaging around his wrist when the bathroom door clicked open behind him.

In a rush, Matthew pushed all of the evidence into the running sink and spun around to see Alfred rubbing his eyes in a tired motion. "Y'know I was thinking that maybe we can sit down, just the two of us, and watch some of them." Alfred offered as he looked up at Matthew.

He saw his brother, standing there like a deer in headlights and Alfred gave him a confused look. "Matthew?" He said softly.

"I-I think the old movie tapes are-are in the back hall downstairs." Matthew said as he watched Alfred study him, seeing his chest rising and falling as if he had run a marathon.

He had no escape now, nowhere to run, his back literally up against the wall. It looked like it took Alfred a second to figure out what Matthew was doing, but when all the gears clicked together, he saw the express flash across his facial features.

"Matthew."

"The tapes are down stairs-"

" _Matthew_." Oh god, he sounded so upset.

"Let me see your hand." Alfred demanded, stepping into the bathroom and stalking towards Matthew.

"I'm fine-"

"Don't. Don't even say that Mattie." Alfred said as he grabbed his brother's left elbow from behind his back and yanked it forward.

Alfred had such an iron grip on his joint to the point where Matthew thought there would be bruising. Even so, Matthew tried to pry his arm from his brother's death lock, but it was no use. By this time with all the struggling and moving, the wrapping unraveled and Alfred tore it completely off.

Matthew looked up as Alfred stared at his wrist, his eyes hard and almost cold looking. He swallowed around a lump that started forming in his throat and gave a weak tug of his arm. "Alfie-" Matthew started but Alfred's head snapped up, causing him to shut his mouth.

"How long?" He asked, though it was more of a demand.

"..not long."

"I said, _how long_ , Matthew?" Alfred asked again.

"Fe-Few...a few weeks." Matthew muttered softly and looked away in shame.

"Damn it Matthew, why didn't you tell me?" He asked him, trying to catch his brother's elusive gaze, causing his hand to grip his forearm.

"Ouch, Alfred stop it!" Matthew yelped, feeling the pressure become too much for him.

Eventually, Alfred let go of Matthew's arm, but continued looking down at it. The skin around the wound skin was an angry red and was slowly dripping droplets of blood. Matthew looked down at his throbbing wrist, his eyes slightly squinted in discomfort, and then at Alfred.

"I'm calling Benny right now to see about a refill." Alfred said and started going through his pockets.

"I'm not a child Alfred." Matthew told him as he held onto his wrist.

"I know you aren't a child Matthew...I know, but that doesn't mean you don't need help. What would've happen if you scratched it too deep and bleed out in your sleep? Huh? What am I supposed to then? We're losing mom, and now I have to worry about losing you too? Damn it Mattie..." Alfred let out a frustrated sigh as he got his phone out but just held it in his hand.

Tears pricked the sides of Matthew's eyes but stayed silent. Alfred looked at Matthew and couldn't help but think of the first time he started this. That day on the couch and how helpless and useless of an older brother he felt like. He never wanted to see Matthew like that, ever. He didn't want to see that helplessness in his brother's eyes again. Not even the way he would scream about how he wasn't special, how the priest should've...should've...

Looking at Matthew now, he saw his scared, little brother. So scared, confused, and mistreated. He didn't deserve any of that.

"Mattie...Mattie, please let me call Benny, okay? See if maybe we can see him?" Alfred said as he watched tears spilled down his brother's cheek.

Matthew licked his lips, his bottom one trembling as he spoke, "Alright, I'll-I'll go but just...just let me call someone?" Matthew shakily.

Alfred nodded.

Matthew sat down on the toilet seat and fished out his phone from his pocket as Alfred went and found another packet of gauzes and medical supplies. He restated rewrapping Matthew's wrist as he stared at his phone, looking at the called ID before clicking the ' _call_ ' button.

* * *

It rang for a few moments and Matthew felt his stomach twist inside of him. When the other line _clicked_ , signaling Matthew that the person had picked up, he took a quiet breath.

"Hello? Matthew?"

"Hi, Francis." Matthew said as he glanced over at Alfred sticking the last bit of tape down on the wrapping.

"Is something wrong?" Francis said.

Matthew could hear shuffling on the other line as Francis spoke and wondered if the other was already in bed.

"Oh, well..." Matthew glanced once again at Alfred, who of course was pretending not to listen to his conversation, "Well, yes and no." He admitted, chewing at his bottom lip.

"Are you hurt? Do you need me to come get you or anything?" Francis said, in a worried tone.

"No, no! You don't need to do that, I'm home at the moment but ah...I probably need to take a sick day, or two..." Matthew's voice trailed off.

"Is it the flu? It is that time of year." Francis told him.

"Ah, yeah, something like that, but ah...I just wanted to let you know. So you didn't worry." He said and Matthew knew that the Frenchman was smiling by the soft ' _huff_ ' of breath through the phone.

"Indeed I would've been very worried, my dear Matthew. Who will I to eat lunch with, and talk about going out on a wonderful evening together?" He said, and Matthew smiled ever so softly.

"I'm sure you'll manage." Matthew told him.

"Well, expect a lot of lonely messages from me then." Francis laughed.

"Okay, well I should get going then."

"Alright, then, be safe."

"I will, goodnight Francis."

"Goodnight my love."

 _Click_

Matthew's heart fluttered in his chest for a moment, barely noticing Alfred talking on his own phone with Benny, he assumed. After a few moments, Alfred hung up his phone and was pulling Matthew up to his feet.

"We can be there within the hour if we leave now." He told Mattie and guided him out the door.

"Alright, alright I'm coming." Matthew said.

* * *

"I hate you so much."

Matthew groaned in the passenger side seat of Alfred's truck. The younger of the two blondes was curled up in his seat, his coat and scarf practically eating him up, since it had gotten pretty cold out.

"You know, if you had told me sooner, Benny wouldn't of have to give you a sedative." Alfred said as he glanced over at his brother.

Matthew retorted with a loud groan and flipped the end of his scarf over his eyes as his head started feeling fuzzy. "You can't blame him Mattie. How was he suppose to know how severe your condition had gotten? Hell, you're lucky we aren't driving you to the hospital right now and admitting you to a room." Alfred said didn't even have to turn his head to know Matthew was giving him a death glare.

"Besides, he said you'll sleep like a baby tonight, then it should wear off sometime tomorrow." Alfred said as they pulled back into the driveway of their house.

However, there was someone else already there, parked next to Matthew's car. Alfred squinted, having the only light source of his headlights to make out the vehicle, but he knew he had never seen it before. "Common Mattie." He said as he got out of the car, shutting it off.

Alfred helped Matthew out of the car, letting his brother lean on him for support as they entered. The taller blonde flipped his keys out and just as he was about to stick them in the slot, the door popped open. Alfred looked up to see a man, standing there in the doorway wearing a long, dark blue trench coat, with his hair in a low ponytail.

"Matthew, is he alright?" The French accented voice said.

"Yeah, and who are you?" Alfred asked, wondering why this man was in his house when it suddenly hit Alfred.

This was Francis.

"Mmh.." Matthew whined against Alfred's shoulder, prompting Francis to quickly pull the lighter blonde inside and pick him up bridal style.

"Where is his bedroom?" Francis asked Alfred as the two watched the youngest blonde wiggle closer to Francis's chest.

"Upstairs, second door on your left." Alfred told him, to which Francis nodded his head and turned around with him in his arms.

Meanwhile, Matthew had his eyes pinched closed from his dizzying headache and dreariness, and barely recognized he was being brought up to his room. By the time Matthew was laying on his bed, he was half asleep, until he felt cold hands touch his bare feet. His eyes fluttered opened, taking a few second to adjust to the light in his room and then looked over at the figure sitting next to him on his bed. It took him a second, but he finally recognized Francis sitting there, in his room, and on his bed.

"Francis? What are-"

"Mon Amour, did you really think I could sleep a wink after the conversation we had? I didn't know if you were okay or not." He said, his hand reaching over and cupping his heated cheek.

"You're burning up." Francis said with worry lacing each word.

"Yeah, the doctor said the sedative would do that a bit."

"Sedative? Why-"

Matthew cut him off by pointing to his wrapped wrist, laying back down until his head was cushioned nicely against his pillow. Francis said no more, simply picking up his injured hand and kissing to softly. He held his hand for a few moments, letting his thumb gently run back and forth across the back side of Matthew's soft hand. Francis watched as Matthew's eyes slowly closed and his breath gradually become steady and even.

Francis watched Matthew sleep for almost forty minutes, yet it felt like hours to the Frenchman, still holding his hand gently on his on the bed. He wondered what was wrong, and had so many questions. The older blonde knew that Matthew may not want to share what was going on in his life, he picked it up on the way he talked when he mentioned certain things with him. Yet, he hoped that sooner or later, he would open up to him.

By the time he heard a knock on the door, it was an ungodly hour of the night. Francis looked to see Alfred standing there, his shoulder leaning against the doorframe for support as they looked at each other. Slowly, Francis got up, careful not to stir Matthew and walked over to Alfred, letting his own shoulder rest against the wall inside Matthew's room.

"So, you're Francis?" Alfred said, crossing his arms.

"I am, and you must be Alfred, Matthew's twin, correct?"

"Older twin." Alfred said with a light hearted smile.

Francis smiled back.

"Guess you're wondering what's going on?" Alfred asked him, to which Francis nodded.

"But I won't say anything," Francis said as he glanced back at Matthew, "not until he's ready to tell me himself."

Alfred gave Francis an amused huff, which cause the blonde haired man to raise an eyebrow at him.

"You're definitely not from around here." Alfred said, pushing his shoulder off of the doorframe and stood up.

"People around here like to gossip and know all the juicy details. A lot of people can't find anything good to do with their time so they judge others and sometimes spread rumors themselves just to get a good kick in." Alfred said, a bit of bitterness in the back of his voice.

Francis didn't say anything, just nod his head at the twin, watching him look at his brother sleeping and noticed how his jaw clenched tightly.

"I take it you've heard some vile rumors?" Francis said.

"Vile doesn't even begin to describe some of the things I've heard."

* * *

Matthew was wandering down the grocery aisle as his mother was on the phone with a friend, talking about recipes and little tips and tricks to make something better, but Matthew wasn't really listening at the moment. They were both in the pasta section, Alfred would have been there with them, had it not been for his football practices running so late in the evening. At least he came home ready to eat whatever his mother and Matthew whipped up.

The young, blonde boy stumbled upon the dessert display of cakes and other pastries. Everything in front of Matthew looked wonderful, and wondered if he asked his mother nicely enough, she'd get a little box of cookies for treats after supper. Eyeing the delectable sweets, he heard the sound of approaching shopping carts and talking but paid no mind to it...at least at first.

Then he heard who was talking and turned around. Two women were standing across the aisle from the display, looking at the frozen foods talking. The only reason why he recognized them was because he had classes with each of their children in Sunday school...which he no longer attended.

Paranoid about having them see him, Matthew hid behind the display quickly. He poked his head out from the side a bit to see the women still talking, seemingly not caring for whoever was around to hear their conversation.

"-and then the little devil has the gall to blame someone else!" The shorter of the two women spoke.

"I can't believe it, I thought their mother raised them right!? Guess I was wrong."

"Nonsense, you can't raise a child, let alone two without a father. That household obviously has something wrong with it."

"Mmh..." The taller women with the bright red hair hummed. "Mrs. Williams-"

"Miss. Williams more like it."

"Right, Miss...who would've thought that her child would make up such a lie?"

"I would've, the skinny one was always so quiet, did nothing but read books, it's those kinds of kids that turn out to be attention-seekers."

"Thanks to him, Father Julius had to leave, now our kids' communion has to be rescheduled! He was such a nice man too."

Now, the two women started pushing their shopping carts away, painfully slowly down the aisle.

"Mh, it's such a shame."

"The little brat probably has something wrong with his head."

At that, they turned around the corner and were out of site, and by the time they did leave, Matthew was crouching down behind the display, shivering like a leaf in autumn. It took his mother a few minutes to find him cowering behind the sweets, but when she did, Matthew bottled over to her and clung onto her waist, hugging her tightly.

His mother knew something must've happened, but didn't say anything for the moment. Instead, she patted Matthew's hair softly, making soft, loving sounds to get her son to calm down.

"It's alright Matthew, I'm right here." She told him, glancing over at the display he was hiding behind.

"How about something sweet and sugary tonight after dinner?"

* * *

 ** _A/N: Hello! I do not have much to say about this chapter really, but if you have something on your mind you want to share with me about, then go right ahead! It always makes my day seeing reviews and messages! And as always, happy writing!_**


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